The Unknown
by DojomistressAmbyChan
Summary: Sakura's random encounter with Shino in the field leaves her wanting to get to know him better.  Though she may get more then she bargained for.  Sakura/Shino  beware the crack .  Eventually mature.
1. The Unexpected

Disclaimer: I no own, you no sue.

Author's note: I've been sitting on this and two other ideas for a while and I've had the first part sitting in my documents for the last month or so. I want to write more but I wanna know if people would even want to read it so I'm throwing my first chapters up and seeing what people think. I don't need a huge review saying how good it is or you love it or you hate it and think I'm stupid for making such a crack pairing. If just one or two people say, I would like you to continue I would be happy. BTW please don't asked for scheduled updates, I have two part time jobs, do freelance art stuff and go to college part time so it's uncertain. That and I work better when the mood hits me so don't be mad, but I'll try not to go more then a month without an update (I'm hoping that'd be an extreme case), if I do continue. Otherwise please enjoy! It's been a few years so I may be rusty.

P.S. Sorry for the crappy title, I can't think of a non-cheesy one. If someone else could please suggest one to me.

The Unknown

Chapter 1: The Unexpected

The sky was at its darkest, right before the dawn. It sounded cliché but true, you don't realize how dark something is until it's compared to the light. 'I've really got to keep my musings to myself,' thought Sakura as she turned from the sky to the trees that still lay between her and Konoha. It was a simple retrieval mission from grass. Go to important daimyo's house, steal important document from extremely well locked down burglar proof house, and get ass back to base without being seen. She stretched her right arm again which had grown sore from holding her left at her side. It had been popped from its socket and she had tried to reduce it once already but without luck so she would just have to wait until she got back to Konoha.

'Home…oh god I want a bath. Better yet a soak at the hot springs. Even with healing I'm going to be sore for the next week.' Though the mission had been a success, recently because of an epidemic in Konoha, Sakura had been running mission after mission with little or no time in between for recovery. Though the epidemic was only fatal to the elderly and children the recovery time was 2 to 3 weeks. Thus even though the mission was simple enough Sakura was already running low on energy and charka from the mission before healing and tending to the infected. But hopefully within the next three or four days the sick would be back on their feet and she could go back to the hospital to relax. 'Never thought I'd think of working at the hospital as relaxing.'

She winced slightly at the light as dawn spilled over the hillside. 'Well that's it for my break,' she said with a grimace and once again started through the trees with the intention of getting home within the next 2 hours. 'That's right get home, report ASAP, get a bath, and pass out until hopefully tomorrow.' She almost groaned out loud of the thought of her lonely bed she hadn't seen in the last week. She was startled out of her reverie by the faint trickle of chakra she felt in the distance. She stopped a good distance away and tried to track the chakra. She was well within fire counties borders but just as easily as she had crossed into Earth country, someone else could have traveled through here.

'It's just holding still…and it's only one. It could be an injured ninja, but enemy or ally?' It was a tough decision, she was already running on fumes and if it was an enemy and it wasn't injured she could be walking into something she might not be able to handle. 'Oh jeeze,' she thought and made her way silently towards the flickering chakra her senses on alert for an attack. She landed a few yards away from the chakra signature. 'Where is it?'

She didn't spot anyone in the trees but she also didn't spot anyone just lying on the ground. 'A trap?' Just as she thought that she felt something prick the back of her neck. She quickly reached back expecting to find a senbon laced with poison, or a shurinken with a serrated edge stuck in her neck. So it was a bit of a surprise when she instead found a small bug in her hand as she put it in front of her face. 'Just a bug,' she thought looking at it unamused before she noticed….'It's eating my charka!' Like a lightbulb flashed over her head, she finally understood.

"Aburame-san," she called softly. 'There's only one clan with that kind of bloodline ability.' "It's Haruno Sakura, are you injured," she asked a bit louder and held her breath in bated silence.

"Sa-sakura-san," called out a voice softly from below a large oak to her right. 'The roots!' She quickly dropped down and moved a small bush to see that a Aburame was indeed hiding under the tree in its roots, and it seemed it was unfortunately what she thought as she came down to his level. She peered under the roots and was a bit shocked to see she knew this specific Aburame.

"Shino? It's you!" She then took a good look at him. "Shit! Is your arm still attached?" Even being a seasoned medic the sight she saw left her reeling a bit.

"Well it still hurts if that says anything," he said wincing as she approached and hesitantly reached out to touch his right arm, which by all rights looked like it was completely ripped off, if not for a bit of underarm flesh stubbornly hanging on. She went to move the arm up slightly to get a better look when his scream of pain actually startled her with the massive volume. It was probably the loudest she had ever heard the guy in all her life.

"Shit! Sorry! Look I got one more eppy pen of morphine but if I give it to you there's a chance of you passing out or at the least getting loopy. But I need to use it to fix your arm."

"I really don't care but if you're going to even try touching it again I suggest you dig out that shot." She quickly reached back and pulled out her last vial of morphine and gave him an injection and almost immediately saw his body sag in relief. She reached out again with her one good arm and did grab his arm again to look at the damage, and he winced in pain.

"Yeah sorry it will dull a lot of the pain but with something this serious there'll still be pain. Shit how haven't you bled out, your veins and arteries are completely ripped!"

"My kikai are blocking the larger ones and then I used my belt and kind of tied it off. But I don't know how well it'll hold."

"Ok," she said shifting and taking the med pack completely off her back. "Before I can help you, you have to help me," she said getting a questionable look from him. "I need to get my left shoulder back in the socket, think you can try and help?"

"Is there much of a choice," he asked rhetorically. She set about getting into position.

"Ok on the count of three you'll have to pull straight and hard until you hear a pop." He nodded and took a tighter grip on her wrist with his one good arm. "One, two, THREE!" She muffled her scream by biting down on her lip just enough to draw blood before they both heard a distinct pop. "Oh damn," she rasped moving her arm slowly now once again in it's socket. She pulled out another pen and injected it into her enflamed shoulder.

"I thought you said you were out of morphine," he asked watching the kunoichi writhe a bit before seeming to pull herself together.

"I am, that was an anti-inflammatory. Don't worry working with shishou has upped my pain tolerance." He gave her an odd look but didn't question her. "All right how long since this happened?"

"About an hour, maybe an hour and a half ago. I passed out for maybe 10 or 15 minutes before my kikai could wake me up."

"All right we're only 2 hours from Konoha and if your kikai can keep that up until then we _might_ be able to save that arm of yours. She pulled out two more pens and injected them in the same area as the morphine. "Don't expect much those are just large doses of antibiotics to try and keep the infection at bay." She pulled out a grey sheet and laid it on the ground along with a few instruments, and a lot of gauze. "Hold on one sec." And with that she left him alone under the roots again looking out as the morning light crawled to the edge of the tree shedding a bit more light in the small area.

She was back not 10 minutes later with a canteen and some longer branches. "Sorry but we have to make do with what we have," she said setting them with her other supplies. "Ok I need you to take off your coat and lay down with your right arm on the sheet." He didn't seem that comfortable with the idea but he took it off anyway and lay down on the sheet. Sakura felt herself blushing slightly, as for the first time she got a clean look at his face with the coat now off. 'I never realized how much he was like Kakashi-sensei in that I've never actually seen his face. I guess I never noticed. He actually has a really nice face.' She noticed him staring at her and shook her head a bit before setting to cleaning out the wound (as much as she could clean one piece of flesh hanging off another).

"You kind of caught me off guard; I never realized that I've never actually seen you're whole face before."

"Is it that odd," he said, her eyes catching his lips as she finally actually _saw_ him speak and felt a small tingle run up her spine. 'Oh come on Sakura stop acting like a child, he needs you to get his arm back together not gawk at him.'

"No not really, actually you have a really nice face, you should show it more," she said cleaning up the wet mess on his arm, satisfied that was as clean as it was getting. She saw him wince in pain as she put the large piece of flesh that was his lower arm near his right and started making seals. She put her hands above his arm and started to work on piecing the bone together, the bone and major arteries and veins would be her goal out here. Then stitch what she could together and get him back to Konoha. She felt her chakra move through his bone and then…

"Ah, Shino, you need to get your kikai to stop eating my chakra. I don't have a whole lot left in general and I'll need all I got to put you together and get us back."

"Sorry," he said with a small grimace on his face. "They may be a part of me but they do get a bit hard to control at times like this, hold on." He brought his other good arm up to his face and put it into a seal and concentrated for a second, letting his face scrunch up. After a moment he took a deep breath and answered, "Ok they should be settled while you work on me." She nodded and set once again to realigning and connecting the bone. This time she felt her chakra get through and wrap and weave itself around the bone stimulating cell generation and working at mending the bone. They sat there in a comfortable silence for nearly ten minutes, she was on the verge of finishing the bone when he spoke up.

"I have sensitivity to light," he said making her look at him questioningly. "You said earlier I should show my face more. But because of the kikai in my body that like dark 'hives' subsequently their sensitivity to light also became mine. Most of my family is like that but not all of us, some are lucky and the kikai actually adapt to the light."

"Really," she asked stopping for a second to readjust herself and start working on the arteries and veins slowly. "What about if you want to go swimming? I've heard from Naruto that your team likes to go to the lake sometimes to swim in summer." She took a second to wipe from sweat away from her forehead as she felt herself nearing her chakra limit.

"I need extremely strong sun block and even then I can't be out more than an hour then I need shade."

"How strong are we talking she asked," glad to have something to say to the usually quiet man.

"Starting at 75 and going to 85 or 90 SPF."

"Damn that's like baby block."

"Baby block," he asked raising his eyebrow with the left corner of her mouth, making her smile in kind.

"Yeah baby's have really sensitive skin and that's around the SPF they have to have. I remember I was really bad as a baby and I had to get a prescription for like 98 or something. Got over it eventually after I burned a lot."

"Well that sounds fun," he said turning his head to look more fully at her. "I wish it was something that simple. I think if I actually sat out in the sun I might tan. But when I'm out too long the kikai get anxious and it takes a toll on my body and usually pass out."

"Seriously? I guess that's the price for that kind of bloodline limit. But it could be a lot worse."

"Worse? I have to dress like I do because of my bloodline and then at the same time people think I'm odd or a one because of the way I dress."

"Actually, they kind of think you're a loner because you don't talk much," she said sweat dropping a bit.

"I talk, but I have conversations about things, not just randomly go off on nothing."

"So, you're just more conservative when you talk," she said with a slight giggle. "So as long as there's something to talk about you'll talk," she asked. She could of swore she saw slight pink come over his cheeks but it was gone just as suddenly.

"Of course, I wouldn't just ignore someone." They sat in a bit of silence for the next few minutes as Sakura finished up the last vein and sat back with a sigh and a bit of dizziness from chakra depletion. "Sakura-san?"

"Please just Sakura," she said holding her head for a minute. "Just give me a second; I got the bone loosely mended along with your veins and arteries but none of the muscle or skin. I'm going to stitch your arm up for now and then we'll head back to Konoha for some decent medical help."

"For what it's worth I think you've done a great job." She did feel her cheeks heat a bit at that.

"You're just saying that because I gave you morphine," she said and saw him smile in return. She got to work and finish stitching him up then used the branches, gauze, and wrap and made some kind of make shift craptastic splint/cast. "It's not the best but it should hold you together until we get back." She got up and dusted off her legs and held her hand out to help him to his feet. He groaned but got to his feet, though a bit wobbly.

"Can you steady yourself?" He let go of her shoulder and took a few steps before falling to his knees panting slightly.

"I think the kikai used most of my chakra keeping me from bleeding out."

"Fine then, have the ones in the main veins and arteries pull back, they should hold with my patch job." She walked up and put his arm around the back of her neck and hauled him to his feet. "Just lean on me and hang on, we're double timing it to get back."

"What about your charka? I know you have to be almost as bad if not worse then me." She walked out from under the tree taking him with her.

"Yeah but I've learned to run on fumes, don't worry I can get us there." She gave him a disarming smile before tightening her hold on him and jumping to the trees making for Konoha.

Sakura was gasping for nearly every breath now, the front and back of her shirt soaked through with sweat as Shino floated between conscious and unconscious. About 15 minutes ago the morphine started wearing off and he was starting to pass in and out from the pain. She saw the hokage tower, and not too far ahead the gates. 'Almost there, come on you can do it!' She pushed herself off her current branch and launched herself towards the gates. 'You haven't dragged the two of you for the last hour and a half just to have someone find you both passed out in the woods! You can do it!' She gritted her teeth and landed on the ground a few yards from the gate.

"Hey, someone get us some help!" She looked around searching for the guards on duty but didn't see anyone. "Someone get some help, we need medics!" She heard something stir and looked up to see someone on top of the gate moving around. She nearly tripped and tried rubbing her eyes as her vision seemed to be getting blurry. She heard a bit of a commotion and saw a few more figures on top of the gate before it was opened. She moved towards the open gate but felt her feet leave the ground and her body literally crash into the ground as her senses seemed to dim. She vaguely heard someone coming near her but by then the darkness had already taken her.

'Ugh, what hit me…?' Bleary eyes opened and quickly shut from the bright light in the room. 'What happened? Where am I?' Eyes opening once again they focused on the white sterile room answering the unsaid question. 'The hospital?' All of a sudden everything came rushing back to him. 'My arm!' He moved his arm slightly and winced in pain but he felt he could flex his fingers again and was relived to see Sakura had indeed helped save his arm. He then looked around the empty room, but the room was not empty as there was a familiar pink haired woman in the bed next to his.

"Sakura," he called out sitting up and being made aware of just how bad the pain in his arm was. He moved it and flexed it feeling the strain of the new muscles and the pain traveled back to his shoulder, but it was nothing like earlier. He turned back to the woman in the bed next to him and noticed she still had not stirred. "Sakura, wake up." He reached over and grabbed her arm to shake it but as soon as he touched her arm her own hand reached up to grab his wrist. Her eyes slowly blinking open and turning to look at him.

"S-shino," she said her voice cracking. "Ugh, my head is killing me."

"Chakra depletion will do that to you," said a new voice they both turned to see Tsunade standing in the doorway.

"Tsunade-sama." "Shishou."

"Just relax you're both staying for at least the rest of the day, thou Shino will probably be here for the next 5 or 6 days. Seriously how the hell did you two even find each other out in the field?"

"I felt a flicker of his charka." 'I wasn't that bad, I was injured!' He bristled at the thought.

"Well I'd like to see how well you do with your arm half off," he said with a pout. He saw Sakura ready to make a come back and then…she stared. Was that a blush on her cheeks?

"Sakura," he asked when she still didn't say anything. She quickly turned away towards Tsunade but the small blush was still on her face. 'Crap did I piss her off?' But they were both interrupted by Tsunade again.

"Anyway, you're lucky Sakura found you, if you waited for someone to find you or tried to make it here on your own without getting patched up you probably would have lost your arm completely. That being said I want to take you off active duty for the next 2 weeks."

"Tsunade-sama!"

"Don't argue, you need time to recover. And I said you were off active duty meaning no missions. But I never said you couldn't train, actually I'd encourage it to get the muscles in your arm back in shape." He felt a bit of comfort from at least that. 'At least I won't be stuck at the compound doing nothing the whole two weeks.'

"Thank you Tsunade-sama."

"And Sakura, you are off active duty for the next week AND," she interjected seeing Sakura was about to say something. "You are not to train for the next 3 days."

"But I wasn't even injured that badly!"

"Yes but you were running on fumes, which I told you _repeatedly_ not to do, now can you tell me the two reasons why?" Sakura stared hard at the blanket around her waist and even though she looked pissed she still answered.

"Because when you 'run on fumes' it takes your body twice as long to completely replenish your charka. And for the next week or two your body will be slower in producing charka."

"Sakura if you already know this then there's no reason for you to try and argue your way out of it."

"But shishou-!"

"Sakura I understand the circumstances and I appreciate what you did, but this isn't a punishment. What good is an injured ninja?"

"But I'm not injured!"

"Yes you are! You're body is having trouble producing charka! That would be classified as an illness or injury. Don't argue with me Sakura, please," she said holding her head in her hand and at that moment looking very tired and very much her real age.

"Hai shishou." The pout on her face was replaced with a thoughtful expression.

"Thank you, now please rest. You both need it." With that she turned and left the room, Sakura was still staring at her blanket but now looked troubled.

"Sakura," he said getting her attention and finally getting her to look up. "You know she's right, and she's just worried about you."

"I know that! But I'm a jounin now, not some little genin, I can take care of myself! I'm not some weakling!"

"I don't think you're weak, and I don't think that's how Tsunade sees you either." He took a second to try and work out how to say what he needed to. "I think even if it was Kakashi, Naruto, or even Sai in the same condition she would have done the same."

"Yeah but when it comes to them they never listen and she doesn't get all that mad most of the time when they do disobey her." Her anger had seemed to come back full force and was now turned towards him.

"Yes but Sakura she has higher standards for you. She personally taught you and she knows that you know better, being a medic and her apprentice. But Naruto and the others, they haven't had the same training you've had and doesn't expect them to understand like you do."

"But that's a complete double standard!" That was hard to argue with and he felt he had done all he could to defend Tsunade.

"Yeah you're kind right on that." Then he noticed it again, she was staring at him. "Umm, what are you staring at?" That made her blush come back full force and she quickly looked away.

"I didn't mean to, it's just. Well…I've never seen your eyes before."

"My…?" It was then he noticed the room was brighter then normally and reached up to feel his face was in fact bare. It was now his turn to blush a bit, and hastily divert his eyes from her. He hadn't noticed the change in light right away since apparently Tsunade had turned the lights down as was standard when treating one from his clan.

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice, you could have told me sooner. Sorry I didn't mean to creep you out." 'Well duh Shino, no wonder she was acting weird.'

"Huh, you're not creepy." He slowly turned his eyes to meet her gaze. "Actually it's kind of the opposite. You have really nice eyes."

"Nice eyes," he asked sweat dropping a bit. "I've never heard of anyone having nice eyes."

"Jeeze, well I would have said pretty but most guys hate that word." He could feel the heat creeping along his face and fought to control it, but was failing.

"You think…I have pretty eyes?" She gave him a small smile.

"Of course, I don't lie about that kind of thing." He felt his heart skip a beat, though if it was from the smile or her words he wasn't sure.

"Umm, thanks," he said once again looking away. He felt himself tense a bit and wasn't sure what to think of the situation. 'No ones ever said anything like that to me before.'

"Sorry, I must be embarrassing you," she said reading his body language as being such.

"No it's not that." He said slowly. "I've just never had anyone compliment me on how I looked before."

"Well you don't really go around without your coat or glasses a lot so probably not."

"I used to a bit when I was a kid but." He stopped himself wondering if he should continue. He looked to see her waiting patiently for him to continue. "But when I did a lot of kids didn't want to play with me and one girl even said I looked creepy."

"Don't believe in stuff like that. When I was younger I got picked on a lot and the kids said I had a big forehead and called me ugly." He was a bit shocked to hear this coming from her. He had always known ino had made fun of her forehead but then Sakura always called ino a pig too so he thought it was just limited to ino insulting her. "I thought that too for a while but now I know that isn't true. Though maybe it was when I was a kid, I think I've grown into it," she said smiling. This gave him a lot to think on, but even as he sat there he felt a head ache coming on .

"What's wrong? You ok?" Apparently she had noticed as well.

"Yeah just a bit of a headache." She frowned at him and almost looked…'Is she actually concerned?'

"You should rest, you probably had major surgery when we got back judging by the fact your arm looks a lot better then what I did. You need to rest."

"Isn't that what Tsunade-sama said to you?" She smirked.

"Don't worry I will, but I'm feeling a bit too restless to sleep. Don't worry, I'll watch over you." The way she said it with that smile again made the heat return to his cheeks. He decided it was best to just rest and lay back down closing his eyes and wondering over his odd rescuer.

Sakura smiled as she watched Shino nod off in the bed next to her. It was kind of odd, she had seen him before, talked to him before, and even went on a handful of missions with him before. But at best he was an acquaintance, not quite on the level of friend. Like she told him before he just seemed like a loner to a lot of people and it was hard for her to read his body language with his coat so she was always worried she would annoy him. But maybe this time off might be a good opportunity to get to know him better. 'And those eyes...' She felt her face instantly go red as she tried to banish the image. She had seen and taken care of many people in the hospital and many attractive looking men. Men with nice bodies, nice smiles, nice hair, but she had never been captivated by somebodies eyes before. It was odd, like she wanted to just sit and stare. She shook her head again trying to banish the thought. 'What would Shino say if he knew I was thinking of him in an odd way? You're just thinking about it because you've never seen him like that before! Yeah, like if you ever saw Kaka-sensei's face you'd be acting the same way!' She determinedly reassured herself before crawling out of bed and sitting over by the window letting the sun warm her as she looked out over the village.


	2. Making Friends

AN: Once again disclaimer I no own you no sue. The only reason the second chapter of this is making it out in the week before my finals is because 90% of it was done when I put out chapter one. After this it's study study study. This goes into a little depth on Shino's bloodline ability (all fictional because very little is known), but just to let you know this is as in depth as I'm getting and after this it will only be vaguely seen in future chapters. So if you're not a fan of what I do with his ability it's not going to come into play that much. Anyway thank you to all you reviewers, I was overwhelmed with the fact I got responses from the time I went to bed to when I woke up, I'm truly grateful!

The Unknown

Chapter 2: Making Friends

It was the next day and while Shino still had a few more days in the hospital Sakura was leaving to continue resting up on her own. Really she didn't need bed rest she just had to not use her chakra over the next few days to try and replenish it. It did annoy her how her shishou had double standards when it came to her and the rest of her team but when she woke up this morning she was surprised at how low her chakra still was. Anyway before she even found Shino back in the forest she was dreaming of sleeping in and getting some time off. So she shouldn't see this as a weakness, she had did her best for the village and now got some time to herself. She had gotten up early to try and get out of there before breakfast, she knew better than to eat hospital food unless you were starving. So she had been careful not to wake Shino and had showered and was walking out the door when she almost ran straight into someone.

"Ah! Excuse me! I'm so sorry...ah, Aburame-san," she said not expecting him. Not that she wouldn't expect Shino's father to visit, but she thought if he was he would have visited yesterday.

"Sakura-san." He said greeting her in his own way. "I heard what you did in the field for Shino," he paused to bow to her. "You have my thanks and gratitude." She blushed and waved her hands not used to the head of one of the biggest clans in Konoha actually bowing to her.

"It was no problem Aburame-san. I would do it for any Konoha ninja, especially Shino-san." He stood again to his full height and she could have swore he was looking at her questioningly.

"Shino-san?"

"Ah," she she exclaimed realizing she may have sounded too informal in front of his father. "Well of course, Shino and I were in the academy together, and after making Chunin we did a few missions together," she said hoping he wouldn't mind her familiarity. He 'hmmed' but nodded just slightly to show he understood. He turned to look in the room. "Ah, he's still sleeping I think,after his injuries he'll be here a few more-"

"I have already talked to Tsunade-sama," he said cutting her off. "I understand his situation. Though thank you for your thoughtfulness." She fought the color that wanted to rise to her cheeks. "She said he should be home by Friday, we were going to have a large dinner to welcome him back." He turned his body completely to face her. "Would you mind attending?"

"M-me? Not that I mind but why the invitation?"

"Why not is more of the question. You saved his arm and may have even saved his life, I would not feel right not inviting you."

"Well I..." she said trailing off. 'Well it might be a little odd, but I did want to try and get to know him better this week. So... "Thank you Aburame-san, I'll be there." Even though she couldn't see his face she felt him smile at her.

"Thank you Sakura-san. I shall see you on Friday."

"Yes Friday," she said with a small bow and then turned and continued on her way down the hall with a smile on her face. She had made it out of the hospital and noticed it was still fairly early in the morning, places were just opening up and she could smell food venders cooking the first meals of the day. Her stomach growled and though she didn't plan to stop for food on the way home her stomach made the decision for her. She decided to stop and get something light like some rice balls and miso soup, light easily digested foods were best when recovering. 'Why is it even when I'm supposed to be off work I still think like I'm at the hospital?' She sweat-dropped to herself and approached one of her favorite stalls she frequented when she took pause while seeing a family blonde ponytail.

"Ino," she asked calling out and sure enough her friend turned looking just as surprised to see her.

"Sakura? What are you doing here? I heard you were in the hospital," she asked as Sakura approached and looked over to see the vender apparently making Ino's order.

"I just got out, literally. It wasn't like it was anything big, I just depleted my chakra and I've been ordered to rest up."

"Well if you're supposed to be resting up then why are you out so early," she asked frowning slightly. Ever since the two had gotten over their crush on Sasuke they had become friends again. They still teased each other and they could still fight it out if it came to it, but they had become closer friends then before, especially since they were both apprentices under Tsunade.

"I was trying to avoid breakfast at the hospital," she said giving her a knowing grin that Ino returned.

"Ah I see, probably a smart idea if you don't want to end up back in the hospital. Though how did you deplete yourself so badly? I thought you were really good at estimating your chakra levels and keeping yourself afloat. Did something go wrong?" The vender finally came back with a well packed bag, it was tightly wrapped and looked ready for traveling, if she had to guess Ino was probably leaving for a mission and stopping for something to bring with her. Being a ninja village a lot of venders learned to pack a lot of food into tightly packed parcels for such occasions. Ino thanked the man and started packing it in her sack.

"My mission went well, it was after the mission. I ran into Shino Aburame on the way back from his mission, he was pretty messed up. His right arm was hanging just by some flesh. I don't know the details but I had to do some triage in the field and hadn't accounted for it. So in the end I was at my limit, but I had to help. He's doing a lot better though, when we got back they apparently finished reattaching his arm and he should be out of the hospital by Friday. You going on a mission," she said pointing to her pack.

"Yeah, just a simple messenger mission, but I wanted to get out of the village even if for a day or two with that damn epidemic, I've been doing nothing but healing for the last three days. Anyway, what do you mean apparently they reattached his arm? How would you know, weren't you also hospitalized?" Sakura paused for a second to place her order before turning back to Ino.

"Ah, they put us in the same room while we recovered. I got to see him, and talk with him a bit after. I even met his dad on the way out of the hospital and he invited me to dinner on Friday to celebrate Shino getting out."

"Wait, wait, wait. So you and Shino were in recovery together right?" Sakura nodded not sure what Ino was getting at. "So did you see him?" The way she asked it left Sakura confused.

"Umm I thought I already said I saw him?"

"No Sakura did you _see_ him?" The blank look Sakura gave her made her sigh. "I mean without his coat and glasses," she said exasperated.

"Ah," Sakura said finally catching on. "Yeah, I had to remove his coat in the field and then in the hospital they also removed his glasses."

"Sooooo, what's he look like," she said in a hushed tone. "Is it scary, can you see the pores where the bugs come out?"

"Ino!" Ino jumped back a little surprised. "It's nothing like that, he just looks like a normal guy, I don't think you see pores or anything unless his bugs are active cause I didn't see anything. Not just that but his eyes, you wouldn't believe them," she said a bit enthusiastically. Ino got this smug look on her face.

"Oh really Sakura? What about his eyes?" Sakura felt heat creep up her face and tried to fight it by looking towards the stall.

"He just has really nice eyes is all, I didn't know what to expect because he always wears sunglasses and it surprised me was all." The look Ino was giving her said she didn't believe her at all.

"And his family invited you to dinner? Did you say yes?"

"Of course, I couldn't refuse when his dad asked me, that would be rude." Her face was still red though from embarrassment or anger she couldn't tell.

"Yeah I bet Sakura. Keep telling yourself that," she said and started walking away. "See you later, don't do anything I would do," she said with a wink.

"Ino!" Before she could go after her the vender came back with her food and she sighed and just gave up, grabbed her breakfast and headed home. She walked up the three flights of stairs to her apartment, she moved out on her own once she became a jounin. Though she was still young, with her missions having her come and go at any hour she thought it would be easier on her mom to move out on her own. She unlocked her door and used a hand seal to dispell the seal she'd put on the apartment. Living in a ninja village you could never be too careful and she always put a seal on the apartment sealing the portals (doors, windows) when she would be gone for a while. She immediately went in and opened the windows to air the apartment out, even though it had only been a week these apartments seemed to get musty fairly easy. She then sat down to eat quickly, bed was calling her name but there was something she wanted to do before that.

Once she finished breakfast she went into her bathroom and stripped down throwing her cloths in the hamper before turning the water on hot and stepping into the bathtub. "Ah god this is what I needed!" She set to washing the gunk the hospital personal couldn't get off without a bath and stretched out letting her arms hang over the edge as she let the warmth seep deep into her muscles. She stretched and wiggled her arms and legs trying to work the kinks out, when her mind went back to Ino. 'Sure Sakura.' She frowned, 'Smug Ino thinks she knows things. She's reading into nothing. I mean yeah I want to get to know him better but it's nothing like that. I mean we're only acquaintances, there's nothing wrong with wanting to become friends with a guy. Heck aside from Ino almost all my friends are guys.' She humphed to herself and decided to get out as she noticed the bathwater was now lukewarm. She drained the tub and was drying herself off when she noticed something.

"What is that?" There was a small black spot on her right shoulder, but that should have washed off in the tub. She went to rub it off when it moved. "Ahhhh!" She screamed and was ready to rip it off when it buzzed drying it's wings. It startled her but also made her stop and look. 'Kikai?' Sure enough she looked closer and it was one of Shino's bugs. 'But why is it on me?' She concentrated on her chakra flow and the bug wasn't eating any of her chakra, it was kind of just sitting there. It crawled farther from her neck more towards the top of her arm and just sat there. 'What, what should I do? I mean it's not hurting me. But I really don't want a bug on me! But if I squish it, would that piss off Shino and his family? I mean these bugs are like Kiba's family's dogs.' She glared at the bug but all it did was sit there unaffected by her stare. She finally gave up and sighed.

"I guess I'll have to try and give you back to Shino later, I really want to sleep right now." After all she didn't even notice it's presence until she was drying off, so if she ignored it she'd probably be ok. She'd never overly been afraid of or hated bugs, and she'd had worse things on her during missions. So she dressed in an over sized shirt and some shorts and fell into bed closing her curtains and blanketing her room in darkness. A thought suddenly occurred to her as she was drifting off. 'I didn't tell my team I was back and out of the hospital...oh well I'll talk to them later...when I wake up...'

Unfortunately for Sakura not talking to her team would be her downfall. "SAKURA-CHANN!" She went to jump out of bed and grab the kunai behind her headboard but before she could even scramble that far she was pinned to the bed.

"What the fuck!" Her heart was thudding in sheer panic...until she looked up at her blue eyed blond haired captor, and then her eye started twitching in anger.

"Naruto!" She pumped chakra into her arm and used it to throw him off of her and onto her floor. "What the hell are you doing? I was sleeping! I don't just come into your room and jump on you while you're sleeping do I?"

"No, but," he said with a grin on his face. "You're welcome to do so if you ever feel the ne-," he was cut off with a pillow to the face.

"Seriously, I come home to rest and I can't even get that." She stretched feeling much more rested then she had before. "Though I do feel better, how long was I out for?" She looked over at her clock and saw it was only 11 AM. "Ah only 2 hours?"

"Two hours? What are you talking about, Tsunade baa-chan said you left the hospital yesterday." She blinked and did a double take looking at the clock and then the calender.

"I-Isn't today still Tuesday?"

"Tuesday, Sakura-chan it's Wednesday."

"Holy crap! I was out a whole day!" She felt panicky and then stopped and asked herself why she was panicking. Usually she'd have work or have chores, or training or something. But she couldn't work or train and she took care of the house before she left so everything should be neat and tidy. So it wouldn't matter if she did sleep the whole day away and felt her panic disappear. "Wow, I must have been more exhausted then I thought." Just then her stomach chimed in growling loudly, to the point it hurt. "Ugh I haven't eaten since yesterday."

"Ne, you should come out and have lunch with me. Ichiraku has-"

"No Ichiraku." His face fell. "BUT if you want to have lunch with me we can go to a restaurant. No ramen though." He seemed slightly disappointed.

"No ramen, but I get to eat lunch with Sakura-chan. Sure!"

"You know isn't it common courtesy to invite the whole team out to celebrate the hag living through her mission?"

"Sai," she squeaked turning to see the pale faced teen standing in her doorway with the fake smile plastered on his face. "Seriously is it just break into Sakura's house day?" She sighed but it couldn't be helped. In their own odd way this was her teams way of making sure she was ok and checking up on her. If the roles were reversed she'd probably be barging into their houses to check on them. "Yeah you're right, speaking of which where's Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-taicho?"

"Actually we're all the team right now," Naruto replied. "They went out on a mission while you were gone, but I think they're going to be gone longer."

"Is something up?"

"No nothing serious, but with the rainy season there was a damn that broke to the north and a bunch of buildings were destroyed so they decided to send Yamato-taicho to help."

"But then why send Kakashi-sensei?"

"It was a farming village and when all hell started breaking loose a lot of the animals took off. They sent him to use his dogs to try and find the animals."

"They could have just as easily asked Kiba or any of his family," she stated.

"Yeah but Kakashi-san and Yamato-taicho have worked together before and there weren't any other pressing missions so she let them go," Sai replied for Naruto.

"So we going to lunch or what," asked Naruto.

"We can go as soon as I change," said Sakura as she waited, and waited...and waited. "Get out so I can change!" She threw a few pillows to shoo them out and closed the door to change. "Seriously!" It was as she was pulling her shirt off to change she noticed something. "Oh hey my little tag along," she said noticing the beetle. But it didn't seem as lively as before. She held her hand over it and concentrated noticing it's chakra levels were very low. 'But why...oh that's right, it's not actually feeding off me. And if it's been away from Shino this long without food, I should probably take it back after lunch.' She began getting dressed but as she got ready to put her shirt on she looked at the little bug again. "Jeez why do I feel the need to heal everything," she asked herself exasperated as she held up her hand again and summoned chakra to her hand like when she healed. The beetle just sat there for a minute not doing anything. "Come on I know you need it." It still sat there. 'Maybe it needs direct contact?' She moved her hand closer slowly and touched her fingertip to the beetle and it seemed to flare to life. It didn't devour the chakra like she had seen the swarms of these guys do, but it did slowly absorb the chakra she had gathered at her hand until she let it dissipate. The small beetle fluttered it's wings a little and settled back on her shoulder. She decided to wear civilian cloths with sleeves to hide the little bugger in case anyone got any funny ideas. 'Like Ino.'

She threw on a white t-shirt with a shurikin on it and some Capri pants before pulling a brush through her short hair and hitting the bathroom. She exited a few minutes later with her teammates waiting impatiently for her. They made there way downtown to a little sit down restaurant. They all just chatted quietly until their food arrived, then it seemed Naruto wanted to get down to what he really wanted to ask her.

"So Sakura-chan, what happened with you and Shino?" The question caught her so off guard she choked on her food and had to get a drink to get it to go down.

"So something happened with you and the bug guy? I never would have thought, though maybe you attract bugs?" That comment was of course from Sai. That made her bristle in anger but she resisted hitting him, usually when she hit him in stores or restaurants they got kicked out. And with as hungry as she was she wasn't getting kicked out over him!

"Man how did you guys even come to that conclusion? We both met on the way back from missions. He was really messed up so I stopped and patched him up and helped him make it back."

"Really? I just heard that you guys were hospitalized together. I knew you went on your own mission alone so we thought you met up somehow," said Naruto squinting at her suspiciously.

"Huh," was her articulate answer.

"He means he thought maybe you two were meeting for some secret rendezvous," Sai supplied helpfully. Her face turned a darker shade of pink then her hair.

"What? I randomly bump into another ninja from my own village, help reattach his arm and you think we're having some kind of secret affair? How do you even come up with something like that?" Naruto looked a little bashful but continued.

"But you have to admit, the chances of randomly meeting like that so far away outside the village are kind of slim."

"Yes but the chances go up when Shino is injured and has trouble concealing his chakra. He's lucky I found him and someone less friendly didn't. You're reading way too much into coincidence. We should all just be happy I found him and we both came back ok." She ended the conversation by whole heartedly digging into her food and ignoring them. They finished their meal with some other random chatter and were going to pay their bills when Sakura thought of something. "Ne, waitress. I was wondering if I could get the number 4 special to go please." The waitress nodded and walked off to place the order and readjust her bill.

"Damn hag, you're really packing it on today."

"Shut it Sai! It's not for me!"

"Huh, but who is it for then Sakura-chan," asked Naruto.

"I was planning on visiting Shino in the hospital today to see how he's doing. I was going to visit him yesterday but...well..." They all knew how that ended up.

"Ne hag, I thought you said nothing was going on between you two?"

"Damnit Sai! There's not! Even if I didn't finish the surgery I did work on him and I want to know how his arm is healing. I did what I could in the field but I don't know if there were any complications later on."

"Ne Sakura-chan you never brought be lunch at the hospital," said Naruto a little dejected.

"That's because I can count on one hand the number of times you've been in the hospital and you've only been there overnight once," she deadpanned.

"So you're saying if I'm in the hospital overnight you'd come visit," he asked enthusiastically.

"Of course I would! What kind of teammate would I be if I didn't? Heck I'd probably even visit Sai." Naruto who had been getting over excited had his face fall at the Sai comment.

"Sakura-chan I thought I was special," he asked sadly.

"You are special, I only have one team, of course I'll look after you," she said with a genuine smile. He sighed but smiled and perked up again.

"Well I guess that's fine then. We should get going right Sai, we were planning on training after we saw you."

"Training?"

"Forget it Sakura-chan, Tsunade baa-chan already told us not to let you train with us." The hope in Sakura's eyes faded and she looked down trodden. "Come on Sakura-chan. You're always saying how you wish you could get a break, well now you are."

"Yeah I guess you're right," she said sighing. It was then the waitress came back with her to go box and they all settled their bills.

"I guess I'll see you guys later."

"Later Sakura-chan."

"Later hag." She winced and punched him in the shoulder, though she was nice enough not to use chakra. She picked up the lunch and made her way towards the hospital enjoying the weather and being so relaxed and energized after her day long mini coma. She quickly made her way to the hospital and entered at the front desk waving to her coworkers as she made her way to the room she and Shino had shared two days ago. She made it to the room and read the door plate to see it was just him in the room still before knocking.

"Shino, it's Sakura. Can I come in?"

"Sakura," his voice came through the door sounding confused. "Um sure come in." She entered the room and noticed the lights were still dimmed, especially compared to the lights in the hallway so she quickly shut the door behind her. She looked over to see him looking slightly confused sitting legs crosseed in the middle of the bed. If she had to guess he was meditating or concentrating.

"Ah I'm sorry, did I interrupt you?"

"Huh? Oh no," he said stretching his legs back out. "It's fine I was just working with my kikai."

"Ah that's right, if you're still recovering it means they have less chakra to feed off of right? Does that affect them so much?"

"Ah something like that," he said evasively. Though this was normal to Sakura. A lot of families with bloodline abilities didn't like disclosing more detailed information to anyone but the hokage. Most clans usually even had a small group of doctors in the clan to keep bloodline limits a secret. Though serious injuries always went to the hospital regardless.

"I thought I might come and check up on you and get you some _real_ nourishment." His eyes, which she was happy to see were still uncovered, seemed to brighten as he saw the bag of takeout she held.

"Thank you! You'd think they were trying to keep you in the hospital with the food they serve!" He then blushed a bit, "Ah sorry Sakura I meant-"

"It's fine, why do you think I snuck off so early the other morning? If I stayed late enough for breakfast they would have made me eat it before I left."

"Wait, that's why you left so early?" He seemed genuinely surprised and paused in his unwrapping of the food to stare at her.

"Of course, what else would it be?" She seemed generally confused as to what kind of conclusions he could have possibly drawn from her leaving the hospital early.

"Well you see I woke up and you were gone and my dad said he'd talked to you. By the way I'm sorry if he was a little rude, he doesn't mean to be he's just kind of blunt. But after that I didn't see or hear from you again, I mean I know we're not close but I kind of expected a goodbye or something." As he spoke she saw a bit of pink crawl across the bridge of his nose. "I at least wanted to thank you. I thought maybe me or my dad or something might have made you want to leave."

"Huh? You thought you'd scared me away or something? Come on look at the oddballs on my team, you almost seem normal in comparison," she said pulling a chair up and sitting next to his bed as he started eating.

"Well yeah but then all the next day no one had heard from you even though you left the hospital and some people thought you might be upset or hiding or something." It was Sakura's turn to turn red in the face as she laughed a bit forcefully.

"Funny thing that," she said her voice wavering. "I kind of slept the whole day away." He gave her a blank stare. "I mean literally. I went home, went to bed and then Naruto woke me up today and I thought I'd had a few hours sleep. But he told me it was actually the next day. I didn't think my chakra was that low but...ah! Also I was planning on coming back and visiting, see how you're arm is holding up." He paused and flexed the arm, the skin seemed a tad paler then the rest of his body (which was saying something), from the new skin they forced to grow quickly.

"It's still a little stiff but I've been doing stretches and little exercises in here with what little room I have. Though my kikai defiantly don't like the disinfectant type smell in the hospital so their a little agitated."

"Ah," Sakura suddenly gasped, startling him slightly. She'd almost forgotten about the kikai that had followed her home. "Sorry didn't mean to scare you but you reminded me. When I got home the other day and was getting ready to sleep I found a little hitchhiker with me." The confused look he gave her was priceless as she giggled and instead she lifted her right sleeve and showed him the beetle just sitting on her arm.

"My, my kikai? But why do you have it?" This seriously confused her.

"Huh? I thought you would know. I was getting dressed and noticed it, I was scared at first and almost squished it. But then I noticed it was yours and figured it wasn't hurting me so I just let it be til I could give it back to you." Shino seemed to be concentrating on the beetle intently almost like he was having a telepathic conversation with it, and if his face said anything he was mentally yelling 'what the hell were you doing?' She wanted to ask but figured he wouldn't be able to tell her anyway, probably something to do with his bloodline ability. Since the beetle was still just sitting there she scooted closer to Shino pushing her shoulder towards him. He seemed a bit startled by her but just held his hand palm up on her shoulder and the beetle slowly crawled into it, he pulled his hand back and let it crawl back up his arm under his shirt.

"Sorry, sometimes when people in my clan get hurt the kikai get confused because our chakra is so low. So since you were nearby it must have attached to you."

"It's fine, I guess we were both pretty low on chakra, so it must have been hard to-" Sakura stopped suddenly and he wasn't sure why until he saw a familiar (only because there was no reason for any other) beetle fly over and land back on Sakura's shoulder. Her look of confusion then turned to one of panic as about a half dozen other beetles also flew over to her shoulder. Shino swore his heart stopped.

"S-Shino what's going on," Sakura said trying to hide the panic in her voice and failing horribly. He quickly put his hand into the ram sign and closed his eyes, he looked like he was concentrating, no other beetles attached themselves to her but the few that were already on her seemed reluctant to leave. "Shino please what did I do? W-what should I do?" Her head was swirling trying to figure out what happened. It didn't seem like they were reacting to anything Shino told them to do because he seemed just as surprised and panicked as her. So did she do something wrong when she gave the beetle back to him? Was it like when you're told not to touch a baby bird because the mother won't take it back? 'Wait then wouldn't they just not accept the beetle back? What the hell is going on?' Suddenly Shino's eyes finally opened and let his hand sign drop as he gave a sigh and the few deserters flew back to Shino, all except one. "What the hell was that?"

"Sakura did anything happen to the beetle?" He seemed extremely serious.

"Excuse me? I was almost attacked by your kikai and you're asking if _I_ did anything to _it_?"

"Actually her." This one left her seriously dumbfounded.

"What the hell does it even matter!" He sighed and put his head in his hand.

"Actually it does, I can't tell you a lot of details but the simplest way to put this is you did something to her to make you think you were her new umm...home I guess would be the best word." The look she gave him made him feel like an alien. It actually made him feel a lot like how he did when he was a kid and people found out just what his bloodline ability was, how disgusted they seemed and how low they made him feel. "This wouldn't be a problem if it were a male, but since she's a female and there is no competition in her new 'home' she started attracting males. They weren't attacking you they were following her."

"WAIT! There are so many questions I have but numero uno is why the hell would I be her new home? I mean aren't they loyal to you're clan or something?" She took a deep breath trying to calm down.

"Ah that's kind of a misconception," he started but the glare she gave him said she wasn't here to be lectured she just wanted to know why she almost became a new hive for his families kikai. "Umm the most I can tell you is that the kikai look for hosts, usually ninja because they look for people who have chakra and emit or use it. Then they attach themselves to them, most of the time people just kill them and it ends there. If they don't the kikai usually starves to death because it won't feed off a persons chakra unless it is an established hi-I mean home." 'He was about to say hive,' Sakura thought feeling a little squeamish, but let him continue. "So the only reason it would think you're a home is if you did something." Sakura felt the blood run out of her face and she paled as she remembered her 'good deed.' "Sakura," he asked slowly. "Did something happen?"

"I-it wasn't my fault! I mean it kind of was, but it was an accident! I mean I didn't accidentally do it, but I didn't know this would happen!"

"Sakura, calm down," he said grabbing her shoulders and trying to steady her. But as soon as he did he jumped back near the head of the bed staying away form her.

"Shino?" 'Now why is he acting odd around me?'

"Just, what happened Sakura," he asked. Though it seemed odd her jumped away he seemed fine now.

"I wanted to give it, I mean her, back to you and I planned on visiting you yesterday. But then I slept through yesterday and woke up this morning and she seemed so listless, I thought she might die before I got her to you, so I figured..." She looked at him trying to see if he looked mad, but so far he just looked curious. "Maybe I could let her have just a little of my chakra until I could get her back to you." His face instantly flushed red, though she wasn't sure why.

"You, wanted to take care of her until you got her back to me," his voice seemed slightly high pitched for some reason and his face was still red though she didn't sense any anger in his body language or voice. If anything he seemed a bit embarrassed or something.

"Shino?"

"Ah sorry, I guess that's why she thought you were her new home. There are many ways to form bonds with kikai in my clan, sharing chakra willingly can be one, though it's odd for her to bond so easily from just that."

"What so she's bonded to me? Like forever? And what about the males, are they always going to be after me? What do I do," she asked feeling a bit panicked.

"No, don't worry I'm going to help you with all of this," he said his face now only a slight shade of pink and his voice was much firmer. "Anyway to begin with this will just be a temporary nuisance, it may seem like we have the same kikai but they repopulate quickly so no one notices their short life spans. They usually live 3 months." Sakura let out a sigh of relief. "Except unfortunately for the females they usually live 6 months."

"Huh? Why just the females?"

"Umm I guess I can tell you this much, the kikai are similar to bees in that they live in a hive and have one female who reproduces, a queen. There are very few other females but the queen's pheromone's make them infertile, so they're just workers. But most of the workers and colony are male, about 95%. So the females have to live longer."

"Crap so the fact I happened to pick up a female was really bad luck?" He looked away from her staring out the window.

"Yeah bad luck. The thing is there is no dominant female near you so even after just a few hours the queen's pheromones have worn off and she's fertile, therefore attracting males. It's because I have control over them that I forced them to stay here, but unless we're forcing them the male kikai will try to come to you." 'I...I really will attract bugs,' she thought sadly thinking back to Sai's rude comment earlier.

"Shino you have to help me. I can't wander around the next 6 months avoiding your family and any other random beetles that are attracted. Hell I can't even leave the village, I'd be swarmed in the forest!" She was panicking again.

"I told you I'll help you please calm down," he said looking a bit sad at the fact he was the cause of most of this panic. "Listen if it's that big of a burden there is a simple solution."

"Which is," she said sounding hopeful.

"You could kill her." Sakura felt so stupid in that moment, of course! It was a bug, it didn't rule her life, she could kill it and it would be done with and she could go back to her life as normal! She looked down at the lone black dot sitting on her vastly larger arm, just sitting there peacefully, fluttering her wings every now and then. She apparently stared at it for so long Shino felt the need to intervene. "Sakura?" She snapped out of her stare and turned to look at him. "I mean I wouldn't feel bad it was just a mistake and it's my fault it ended up on you anyway so it's not like I would have any hard feelings towards you." She sighed dropping her head before looking back up at him.

"Isn't there any other way?"

"Huh," was his oh so elegant response and his face was that of complete and utter confusion.

"Well, I can kill her, hell I'm a kunoichi I've killed worse then bugs!" She sighed and looked away. "But I mean I went out of my way to heal her and everything, it'd kind of be a waste, and at most it'd only be for 6 months. So..." She wouldn't face him and it seemed like she was almost making excuses. 'But why would she...?'

"Sakura...?"

"So, is there another way," she asked softly. 'Why,' was the main word rebounding off his head almost seeming to get louder every time it repeated in his head. He wanted to ask, it was on the tip of his tongue, but the way she was talking, was asking... There were some things that he kept to himself, and he felt if he pushed her for an answer right now not only would he not get an answer he'd make the situation worse. He could be a bit socially awkward like his dad but thankfully his mom instilled a bit of tact in him.

"Actually yes, though this has a bit more maintenance."

"Maintenance," she said finally meeting his eyes with a questioning look.

"We've had problems where even with a queen there have been other females who were fertile and it causes an upstart. So we made a concentrated version of the pheromones and one drop on the beetle will keep her infertile for a month. So I just need to ask my dad to bring some over-" He stopped mid sentence realizing something. "Actually it'd probably be better if he just had a messenger send it to you."

"Why? I could go over there and get it right now. The sooner the better right." Her day was finally starting to look like there was a silver lining to her problem.

"You'd be covered in a minute." She almost fell over looking gloomy again.

"It's ok! It's ok! I'll fix this," he said a little panicky. Hinata was fairly shy and quiet so he wasn't used to so many emotions in so little time, this was uncharted waters. "If you can just get someone to give my dad a note for me he'll get it to you somehow. Hold on, do you have some paper?" Still a bit disheartened she pulled out a notepad and pen from her hip pouch. He quickly wrote a note out, "Do you think you can have a friend take this note to my dad and bring back the bottle?"

"Of course! Hell Naruto and Sai are training right now, I can go get one of them to get it for me. After this morning they owe me."

"This morning?" She had a look like a deer caught in the headlights. 'Shit I can't tell him about how I found out there are odd rumors floating around about us!'

"Y-yeah, I told you didn't I?" Inspiration struck her and she perked up. "They both broke into my room to wake me up! I mean they do that sometimes but they never even try to knock, what kind of guy does that," she said trying to seem as agitated as she was this morning. "They so owe me!" She looked over and noticed he looked fairly convinced and held out the folded up note.

"Just one drop on her once a month and you'll be fine. She'll take a small amount of your chakra but just one kikai over a month period might eat enough for a henge so I doubt you'll even notice it." She took the note from him, and on a whim quickly leaned forward and gave him a hug.

"Thank you so much!" She pulled away noticing his face looking the shade of her hair.

"A-anytime, Sakura-san."

"Sakura."

"What?"

"Just Sakura, I'm off, but I'll be back tomorrow! Promise," she said waving as she quickly jumped out the door most likely to get the note delivered. Either way he was grateful, as he held a hand over his still rapid beating heart.

"What have I gotten tangled up in?" And even though the situation left him feeling like he'd been knocked on his ass, he couldn't help but smile.

AN: Thank you for reading reviews would be great if you like. I hope I'm keeping them fairly in character though it's hard since they have little to no interaction in the actual show.


	3. Dinner with Friends?

AN: I am sooo sorry it took so long to update. I did not intentionally do this, in fact I wanted to get this chapter out just a week after the last one but things happened. Life came up and said, 'oh look winter break and you want to relax and write and watch anime, how cute.' Sucker punch to the face! Yeah like two days after I posted the last chapter my dad was in a bad car accident and he broke part of his neck, his right knee and shin, and his left ankle. He and my uncle were both in the accident and my dad was in the hospital until xmas eve. Even since then he's in a wheelchair for a few months so I've had to help out a lot more and with work and then school starting back up it's been hard to sit down and work at this. It's no excuse and I did say updates would range from 1 week to a month but I still felt bad. Anyway I'm hoping it won't take so long next time. Thanks for waiting I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my cat and her name is not Naruto.

Chapter 3: Dinner with friends?

Sakura sighed as she stared at herself in the mirror for the third time and resigned to pulling her hair back with a simple clip since she could find no other way to style her hair. It was too short to put up but long enough to get in her way. It was finally Friday and she was trying to get ready for the dinner at the Aburames. Thankfully she had been able to get Sai to run her little 'errand' for her the other day. Naruto would have either teased her relentlessly or been suspicious/jealous. Sai...Sai she could bribe. All she had to do is have a one on one question and answer with him about building relationships; with the exception that she couldn't hit him. It was a very long hour and she was sure if he wouldn't have teleported away as soon as the hour was up she would have knocked him into last month. She'd visited Shino again the next day to check on him and sneak him in some more lunch and thankfully they didn't have any incidents with her bug attracting his...yeah that sounded wrong. And now she was getting ready to have dinner with his family.

'Why does it feel like there's something more going on here then just a friendly dinner? Kinda awkward.' Then again it's not like she could compare him to her other friends or teammates. Her teammates...well as sad as it was they didn't have any family for her to meet. And she'd met Ino's parents when they were kids so it wasn't the same. 'I guess it's just because I've never really formally met any of the clans before.' She grabbed her shoulder bag and made her way to the kitchen to grab the cake she had made. She wasn't a great chef or anything but she could make a decent cheesecake if she had to. She wasn't sure on the whole etiquette thing but she figured if they invited her to dinner she could at least bring desert. She locked her door and made her way down the stairs enjoying the warm evening as the sun made it's way down towards the horizon.

'I wonder what the rest of his family will be like.' She'd already met his father, he was a...different man. Though, you could say the same for Sai. 'But it's not like he was outwardly rude,' she thought to herself thinking back to their meeting in the hospital. There wasn't much known about the individuals of the Aburame family unless you happened to be in a team with one. Though the clan was fairly large. Thinking back though there didn't seem to be a lot of them in the academy like there was with the Inuzuka clan. Heck there was an Inuzuka almost every three years in the academy. She giggled to herself and stopped as she approached the main entrance to their compound. It was a basic wooden gate, maybe 6 feet tall around the perimeter, though it was a bit overgrown with vines and other natural plants giving it a more naturalistic look. She took this as a good sign, as it wasn't nearly as intimidating at the Hyuuga clan's front gate and took a deep breath before entering. She wasn't sure where Shino's house was but she figured she could just ask for directions once she entered. Sure enough as soon as she entered she felt at least a dozen different pairs of eyes on her, though it felt more like observation then intimidation. There was a woman with slim sunglasses on, with a kimono embroidered with flowers of dark reds and purples with a dark blue background sweeping a porch. She approached her making sure to make noise and not startle the woman. The Aburame were a clan but that didn't mean all of them were ninja.

"Excuse me ma'am," she called out and saw the woman look up with a slight surprise on her face.

"Yes? Are you lost," she said pausing in her sweeping and turning to face her. She had long black hair pulled back in a high pony tail and her body was very slight and petite.

"Ah kind of. I was invited to dinner at Shino's home, but I didn't get directions. Can you help me?"

"Shino? Ah, you must be Sakura-sensei," she said a smiling lighting up her face and giving her a more cheerful appearance. "It would be just like shibi to invite you and not give you directions," she said waving her hand in an off-hand manner.

"shibi?"

"Ah, sorry, yes that's Shino's father. We've heard all about you and what you did for Shino. Thank you so much!" The woman bowed deeply in gratitude. Sakura felt her face flush, it wasn't the first time she had a grateful family member thank her for helping someone but it was kind of odd the whole clan had heard about it in such a short time and that they were all on a first name basis with one another. Maybe the clan was smaller then she thought?

"Anytime! I was glad I found him, I was worried at first. But everything turned out ok."

"Ah but I'm probably holding you up. You follow this main road down to the end and go left and it's at the end of the second road."

"Thank you very much, umm...?"

"Ah, my name is Sakaki thank you again Sakura-sensei."

"You're welcome, have a good evening." She bowed and continued down the road following the instructions. She continued to feel eyes following her but apparently after her talk with Sakaki people smiled at her as she made her way down. Though as she looked around the compound she saw some older adults but she had yet to see any children. She remembered how Hinata had told her before how the Hyuuga clan was very selective about marriage and usually arranged marriages within the main house to 'keep the bloodline strong'. She wondered if it was the same here. Though once again she thought of the Inuzuka clan, apparently with Kiba's family they didn't care who they married. 'There's so little I know about this clan compared to the others.'

She came up to a house at the end of the second road and there sat a two story dark green house with a small flower garden out front with various lilies, poppies, and geraniums. She wasn't sure what she expected when she came into the compound but found herself looking for beehives or insect keepers, or something but aside from some butterflies floating around the flowers and a few cicadas chirping in the distance she didn't see any over abundance of insects. She approached the door and knocked waiting, she heard movement inside and the door was slid open and a short woman, maybe an inch taller then her was standing in front of her. She was wearing a short sleeved short hakama shirt, dark blue, with a purple belt tied around her waist and short black pants underneath. She had long black hair in a ponytail, but the odd thing was she had warm brown eyes but didn't wear sunglasses of any kind like she'd seen throughout the compound. She was smiling brightly and had bowed which Sakura returned. 'Her eyes, they remind me of Shino's.'

"Welcome, you must be Sakura, we've been waiting for you. My name is Kanoko Aburame, Shino's mother, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Ah, it's good to meet you too Aburame-san."

"Please Kanoko is fine, it's so good to finally meet you face to face. You're reputation proceeds you and then I've heard Shino talk of you so I feel like I already kind of know you."

"Shino talks about me?" But her question was ignored as Kanoko ushered her inside. She noticed the shades on the windows were the kind that blocked out most light and made the room much dimmer. "Oh, I made a cheesecake for desert," she said offering her the cake container.

"Cheesecake! Oh my gosh, how did you know that's my favorite?"

"Ah? It is? I-I just have a recipe for cheesecake that's fairly easy to make so I made one to bring for dinner."

"This is perfect, we have some fresh strawberries we can put over top. Anyway the dining room is this way," she said leading the way to a tradition Japanese low lying table with four mats around it and chopsticks and bowls laid upon it. Two people looked up as the two women entered the room. She fought back a blush as she looked at Shino in casual wear and he seemed a bit shocked at her appearance as well. 'I guess I don't usually go out in casual wear either do I?' Shino looked to be wearing a casual brown yukata with his sunglasses, but without his coat his wild hair was even more apparent and his face was bare and easier to read. His father was also in a casual yukata, his black, and she saw a few scars across his face as per usual with many veteran shinobi. His father wasn't smiling but he didn't appear to be frowning either. "Our dinner guest has arrived," said Kanoko as she maneuvered Sakura over to an empty spot next to Shino and another empty spot, apparently Kanoko's, leaving his father across the table from her.

"Is this everyone," she asked a bit surprised.

"Hmm, well yes we wanted to just keep it a personal dinner since we were having a guest."

"A sorry, when I asked for directions at the front and everyone knew about dinner I thought maybe more of the family was coming."

"Ano, Sakura san," Kanoko started, her smile fading from her face and a more serious if not slightly annoyed expression took over. "What do you mean when you say you 'asked for directions?'" At this Shino's father seemed to stiffen though his face was still blank.

"Ah it wasn't any trouble or anything," she said trying to diffuse the situation.

"But you mean shibi didn't give you directions?" Even though his facial expression didn't change his aura was one that gave the impression he wanted nothing more then to become a beetle and scurry away under his wife's penetrating gaze.

"I-I must have forgot," he said, his face never wavering though his voice did.

"What kind of invitation is that? You don't invite someone who's never been here without giving directions, or even better a map," the young woman all but growled. Sakura had a feeling at one point this woman was a shinobi. She was very petite but was down right scary and shocking with the angry aura she was exuding. Awkward didn't even begin to explain how she felt, she looked to Shino for help but he just looked exasperated and maybe a bit embarrassed.

"Ano...Shino?" He looked up at her as his parents continued arguing. Well it couldn't really be called arguing, so much as his dad was getting a verbal tongue lashing. "Are they always like this," she said quietly hoping not to draw his mother's attention.

"Kind of...mom's a bit strict but only when it comes to dad. While dad...he's kind of socially challenged so things like this happen sometimes."

"Ah, I see...I guess. How does it feel to be home," she asked changing the subject and overall ignoring the fiasco going on just a few feet away from them.

"Great, a hospital is nice but it's a lot easier to relax and rest in your own bed." He said it with a warm smile that made Sakura's heart beat just a little faster, but she pushed it aside. 'It just takes some getting used to, once you see his face for a bit it'll be nothing special,' she thought to herself.

"I know, the hospital has it's benefits but there's nothing like your own bed. Especially after a long mission or a long stay in the hospital. Speaking of which, have you been training much since being released?"

"Ah yeah, I have been training for most of the day but whenever I get winded my dad made us stop and take a break, though my arm feels great. Almost like it was never injured. Though sometimes it feels sore."

"It's because it's new muscle and you're training it for the first time, it has to catch up to the rest of your body."

"How about you? I know Tsunade-sama said that you had to take a few days off, but that should be up by now right?" Her head hung a bit and she sighed before answering him.

"Yeah but unfortunately shishou won't let me use chakra for the rest of the week."

"Huh? Why?" She looked up at him with a disheartened look on her face.

"I have no problem training in taijutsu but whenever I try to use chakra I use it up too quickly. My body is still having trouble producing chakra and whenever I try to mold what I have it gives my system a shock. Shishou said conserving it and letting my reserve build for a bit would probably help it. It's kind of like when you're body starves, it doesn't know when you'll eat next so whenever you eat it automatically stores it as fat so you still might not have energy even though you ate."

"That's a different kind of analogy but I see what you mean." It was then they noticed the noise from the two adults had stopped and Kanoko was now in the kitchen leaving a very depressed looking shibi sitting there. "We have some apple plum juice if you're thirsty," he said changing the subject.

"That sounds good thank you," she said as he retrieved the bottle from the kitchen, leaving her alone with his father.

"Ano...sorry about that Aburame-san." She wasn't even sure what she was apologizing for but she felt so bad for the guy.

"It's fine," he said quietly as Shino came back with a plastic bottle and poured her a glass of juice. He didn't look upset, just a bit down.

"Dinner's ready," called Kanoko as she entered the room holding a plate with some grilled oonagi and set it in the middle. She went back to grab the rice steamer and a second smaller plate of fried vegetables as a side. "Please save room for desert, Sakura-chan brought cheesecake," she said happily as she spooned out some rice in the bowls. Sakura was a little shocked at how Shino's face lit up at the sound of desert.

"Ah, Shino and me both share a love of sweets, he looks like his father but he so takes after me," Kanoko said as she saw the slight shock on Sakura's face and giggled.

"Ah it's kind of nice, out of all my teammates Naruto's the only one who's overly fond of sweets so it's rare I make a whole cake without feeling like a pig knowing I'll end up eating most of it, though not all at once," she amended quickly.

"Well if you ever need someone to share some with you're always welcome here," Kanoko said happily. While they had been chatting Kanoko had been taking the rice bowls to fill and handing out the plates of food. Sakura said a quiet thank you and started eating. It was very good, there were a lot of spices added though it wasn't spicy just very flavorful.

"This is very good Kanoko, you're a very good cook."

"Ah thank you Sakura, you're so sweet. I rarely get a chance to cook for anyone but these two."

"Well it's nice to have a home cooked meal every now and then. It's rare I cook at home, I'm usually pulling doubles at the hospital or I'm out on a mission. Heck I think I eat at Ichiraku's more then I cook at home."

"Ah the ramen shop? I have heard of your teammate's insatiable apatite for Ramen, is it rubbing off on you?"

"Ah, maybe a little. Ano, Kanoko, I was just wondering, I couldn't help but notice you don't wear sunglasses."

"Ah, I'm surprised you're so observant. But yes, my eyes aren't as sensitive as most of the rest of the clan. It's because my father wasn't an Aburame."

"Huh? That makes a difference?"

"Well yes, it's a bit difficult to explain. But it's kind of like most Aburame are very sensitive to light and such and most normal people don't even notice the light, so by combining the two you have a bit more resistance."

"Ummm you mean like...selective breeding," she said a bit unsure. 'I really hope they arn't like the Hyuga clan.'

"Huh?" The woman seemed genuinely confused for a second then a light bulb seemed to shine as she understood. "Oh god no, it's not like we're one of those rigid clans who uses marriage for breeding," she said trying to make sure Sakura firmly knew that was not at all their intention. "Really our family doesn't mind who we marry off too, though I'm not going to lie...it's kind of hard to get people outside the family interested. I still remember the stories of how people were amazed it was my father perusing my mother, she was a full blooded Aburame. It was so cute, he even went out of his way to learn about insects so he thought they'd have more to talk about." She laughed at the cute memories before turning her attention back to Sakura. "I was actually kind of hopeful when Shino was born he'd be more resistant, especially because of his eyes."

"His eyes? Ah I noticed, you have the same eyes." As soon as the words left hr mouth she realized how intimate that sounded and felt her face heat up and saw out of the corner of her eyes Shino's own face was a dusty pink. "I-I mean I noticed them when we were in the field, he has very pretty-I mean nice eyes! Nice!" She groaned. "I think I should just stop speaking," she said and dejectedly went back to her food. By this time Shino's face was as red as hers though his also sported a kind of shocked look showing he wasn't expecting something like that. His mom on the other hand was smiling widely and looked like she was trying not to giggle but decided to push the conversation in another direction.

"But like I was saying, it's hard to get other people to marry into the family."

"Hmmm...why?" This question came from Sakura and had the other three at the table seemed kind of flabbergasted at her honest question.

"Ano, Sakura you _do_ know what kind of bloodline ability we have right," asked Shino quietly.

"Hmmm." She thought for a minute. "I guess so, but I don't think that makes much of a difference to someone like me."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not trying to be rude but the way you say it is because most people are scared or repulsed by your bloodline ability. Where as I...well about a month ago I had my hand inside a person holding a broken rib together so it wouldn't puncture his lung while I pulled bits of stone out of his kneecap trying not to accidentally pull out bits of his broken kneecap...I'm not very normal in that sense. It takes a lot to make me squeamish." She realized what she said and covered her mouth quickly. "Oh god I' sorry, I didn't mean to talk about such gory things at the dinner table." 'Great go ahead and make them loose their appetites at dinner. Good going Sakura!' She heard a giggle next to her and saw Kanoko's face was pink as she tried to stifle her giggles once again.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan. It's just so cute, can I adopt you, I always wanted a girl," she said grabbing one of her hands and holding it to her chest. Even Shino's face turned beat red as his mother tried to convince her to be her daughter.

"Mom! You can't adopt her she's already over 18 anyway," he said fighting the blush on his face even as his mother pulled Sakura closer to hug the girl.

"Fine, then marry her so I can have a daughter!" Sakura and Shino's faces were both a dark scarlet color.

"Mom-"

"Kanoko-"

Surprisingly even Shino's dad had something to say to this. "Hmmm. I approve."

"DAD!" Sakura felt even more uncomfortable as his mother was hugging her and his dad was apparently giving his approval over everything. "Sakura please forgive them they don't mix well with sane people," Shino said exasperated and sighed.

An hour later and they had finished eating and Kanoko was working on the dishes while Shino's father went to take a bath leaving Shino and Sakura alone until Shino suggested they go outside. They had a small porch off the back of the house with a porch swing. Shino offered her a seat on the swing and went to lean against the railing but Sakura asked him to sit next to her.

"I don't bite I swear," she said leaning back and enjoying the warm night air as the crickets made themselves known in the garden.

"I'm sorry for such a stressful dinner, dad and mom usually keep each other in check but when they both agree on something it gets like that sometimes."

"It's fine, it was actually really fun. I've never been invited to join a clan before," she said with a giggle. She couldn't see his face but had a feeling his face was pink again. It's not that he was easy to rile up but when certain subjects come up, like marriage or anything about personal relationships he seemed a bit flustered. She thought back on it, 'I wonder if he's ever dated before.' She felt her own face heat up at that thought. 'W-why am I wondering about that?' She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Sakura are you all right?"

"Ah yeah, sorry. Thank you for dinner, I have to make sure to thank your mom again. This was a lot of fun."

"Seriously?" For some reason he seemed surprised.

"Yeah it was fun, It's not often I get to eat dinner with a family." She saw the confused look on his face. "Ah what I mean is that in my family it's just my mom and me, my dad died when I was little. And team 7 is kind of like another family, but different kind of. But you know what I mean right?"

"Yeah, it's kind of like team 8, we don't have the same dynamics as you but it's like they're a second family to me, they have their faults but I wouldn't trade them for anyone else."

"Too bad, I was thinking of asking if I could trade Kiba for Sai. Though he'd probably make Hinata pass out from blood loss with all the crude things he says," she said with a smirk and was a bit surprised to hear him muffle a laugh. Once again her treacherous heart skipped a beat before speeding up. 'I've seriously gotta keep that under control.'

"I don't think the rest of our team would be able to take it. I don't even know how you're team puts up with him."

"You say that but seriously think about who else is on my team," she said. "Naruto, the inventor of the 'sexy no jutsu' and Kakashi-sensei, avid reader of icha-icha paradise."

"Ne Sakura, if the rest of your teammates are perverts, does that mean-"

"NO!" She cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "I am not a pervert, heck there are times I'd rather not have people know they were on my team." She pouted slightly and thought she saw his eyebrows move up slightly.

"That's harsh."

"Oh come on there have to be times when Kiba does something that makes you just want to sigh and walk away before people realize you're with him." His silence said it all and she laughed again imagining all the crap Kiba probably tried to pull.

"Ne Sakura, listen I know I've already said it before but thank you again for helping me."

"Shino-"

"Please, I know you say it's fine, but you risked getting caught and chakra exhaustion to help me when it might have been easier just to amputate or even leave me and get help. So really thank you."

"You're welcome and I'm glad I ran into you. I know we've been acquaintances and have gone on a few missions before but I feel like we've really started becoming friends because of this."

"You...really consider us friends?"

She nodded and replied, "I think I've really gotten to know you better in the last week and I really like hanging out with you so yeah, I think we're friends."

"T-thank you." It was kind of silent after that the both of them thinking and enjoying just being in the others presence.

"Ne Sakura," he began getting her attention. "You know Kiba's birthday is next week, the 7th. He's inviting most of our class are you going to be there? I know he'll probably invite you but I didn't know if you were going." She sighed a little before answering.

"Well I was _supposed_ to work that day but with the way things are I don't have anything else so yeah I plan on being there. That and Ino's been begging me to go, she said Kiba's family are leaving the house completely to him for the night so you know he's going to do something wild."

"Unfortunately for the rest of us. Whenever _he _gets in trouble he ends up getting Hinata and I to help him get out of it."

"Get out of it?"

"Meaning if the place gets trashed and he has to clean it up he'll talk us into helping. I mean I don't mind helping him out but if he knows the consequences and does things anyway it just seems annoying."

"Hmmm, well it's what comes with being a teammate." She felt herself yawn and covered her mouth a bit before stretching. She looked at her watch. "Wow it's almost 11, I should probably get home, I'm hoping if I get a little more rest then usual my chakra reserves will build faster."

"I'll walk you to the door." They went inside and saw neither of his parents downstairs but thought they heard someone walking upstairs. They went to his front door and he walked with her just outside the door.

"Thanks again for dinner, tell your parents thank you again for me, it was fun."

"Thank again Sakura, for everything," he said in a serious tone causing her heart to skip.

"Really Shino, I'm just glad I was able to help. Night," she said with a wave and made her way back towards the front gate. 'Well that went rather well, aside from his mom wanting to kidnap me and make me her own. Still...they were rather nice. I wonder why I've never really thought about becoming friends with Shino before. Is it because...I saw his face?' She blushed at the thought. 'Am I ...really that shallow?' She sighed and shook her head as she continued down the street, and was surprised when she heard someone call her name.

"Sakura! Sakura!" She turned around to see Hinata jogging lightly towards her and stopped to wait for the girl to catch up."

"Hinata, what's up?"

"Sorry I didn't mean to disturb you," Hinata said quickly but continued talking. "I actually just got back from a mission with Kiba and we heard what happened."

"So you and Kiba were on a mission without Shino?"

"Kind of, Shino was needed for a solo mission, the one you found him coming back from. While he was away a two person mission came up so Kiba and I accepted it. We just got in maybe an hour ago and heard what happened but..." She look away trying to figure out how to say what she wanted.

"Don't worry about how you say it Hinata, just ask what you want," she said trying to alleviate some of the stress apparent in the girls face. This seemed to stun Hinata but she recovered and finally said what she wanted.

"Sakura I tried to ask Tsunade for the details but she just said he was injured in the field and you healed him. I'm sorry if this is asking too much but I have to know. Please what happened?" She could practically see the worry oozing from her and realized if she was in Hinata's position and it was Naruto and Sai's condition...regardless of if they were ok, she'd want to know the details too.

"It's fine, come on and walk home with me I'll tell you on the way." So Hinata followed her on her way home and listened as Sakura told her about how she had found him, the extent of his injuries, and what she did to get them both home. She kind of glossed over the parts after they returned to Konoha but by that time he was fully healed so she didn't think that was as important. After all was said and done though Hinata actually looked guilty. "Hinata, is something wrong?"

She looked up and took a minute before meeting her eyes. "I can't help but feel guilty. We're a team and even though they said it was a solo mission, ever since I started to learn some medical techniques I've been pushing to at least have myself waiting as backup at a rendezvous spot in case something like this happened. I feel bad because I didn't assert myself enough. Maybe if I had..."

"Hinata you can't blame yourself. If they had their heart set on it being a solo mission you couldn't convince them otherwise. No one can foresee things like this happening, all you can do is try and learn from them. If you worry too much about 'what if's' and 'buts' then you'll get stuck in the past. I worry about the same things when they need Sai on a spying mission or when they ask Kakashi-sensei to help out ANBU. All you can do is try to be ready but even with that you're not sure what to be prepared for."

"Thank you Sakura, that means a lot."

"Anyway this is me," she said pointing to her apartment complex.

"Goodnight."

"Night." She ascended the stairs as Hinata turned around and started heading towards home. She hadn't expected Hinata to show up tonight and she hadn't really thought about the quiet woman in a while. It had been almost a year since the end of the war, and she was pretty sure everyone who was still conscious during the attack on Konoha remembered her confession to Naruto. Apparently they had talked later but, he said at the time he didn't know what his feelings for her were and it had kind of remained like that since then. It wasn't awkward when they met but there was always a shadow around Hinata. 'Hmm, maybe I should try and help her out. Naruto and Kiba get along, I should try and get him and Sai to come to the party. Hinata's bound to be there. Though I don't know if I'm the kind of person who should be meddling with people's love lives. Heck, I don't even have a love life.' The second she thought that a certain pair of warm brown eyes popped into her head.

'Agh! God what is with me. I know he's good looking but...is that the only reason...I'm attracted to him?' She couldn't deny it to herself anymore, denial was just childish, she was definitely attracted to him, but if it was just physical she didn't want to do anything to hurt him. She was serious about being friends with him, and didn't want to mess that up if she had a crush on him just because she thought he was attractive. She changed into her night cloths and crawled into bed feeling her little hitch hiker move across her collarbone. It had taken some getting used to but she was starting to be able to ignore the little beetles movements. "Ne what do you think," she said addressing the beetle but it just sat there, unmoving. "What help are you," she grumbled and rolled over to go to bed.

AN: Sorry not much happened this chapter but this is just a little filler to get from point A to B, believe me B is going to be so much fun! Next chapter Shino's POV, it's going to be fun. Please review if you liked or hated this!


	4. Partying with Dogs

AN: Sorry for the long wait everyone but like I keep saying work and school come first. I know I said it'd be in Shino's POV this time but I start with Sakura to set up the side Hinata/Naruto thing. I hate to leave characters and side plots undeveloped, but after that it's all Shino. Hope this was worth the wait.

Chapter 4: Partying with Dogs

It was the night of Kiba's birthday bash and Sakura was stepping out of the shower drying her hair with the towel before walking over and putting on her underwear. Even though she wasn't sure about it, she had eventually asked Naruto and Sai to come to the party with her. Apparently Ino had already invited Sai, but Naruto was still on the fence. Now though he was coming, she figured it couldn't hurt to just have him and Hinata at the same party. Maybe something would finally happen. She pulled on her capri's and small white tank top before pulling over a see through green t-shirt. She loved how it looked and green highlighted her eyes. She made sure the beetle was out of sight on her left side. She found if she put a little chakra on her finger she could bribe the beetle to move.

She through on some plain brown sandles and towel dried her hair one more time before pulling a comb through it. It was a little early but she needed to grab her teammates and who knew what nonsense they might be attempting when she came to get them. She first went to get Sai who was ready, well he was wearing what he usually did so she suggested he change into more casual cloths as that's what people usually did when attending a party. He then informed her the only other cloths he had were long black pants. She told him that would do and figured she could steal something from Naruto's for him.

Sure enough they made it to Naruto's to open the door and see female Naruto in all her busty glory in an outfit that would make a stripper blush. Sakura promptly pummeled him and told him she would only take him to the party as a guy. After some fighting, apparently he thought it would be hilarious to hit on Kiba while drunk and then poof back to normal, he relented.

"Why would you go to the party as a girl anyway when you can transform at the party?"

"Because knowing Kiba he's started drinking before the party even started so he might remember a blonde girl actually showing up and might not think anything of it."

"And what if he didn't just flirt with you, what if he groped you or tried to kiss you or something?" He blanched, apparently not thinking that far ahead and instead thanked Sakura for saving him, until she stole a black and red shirt with the fire symbol on it to let Sai borrow. Once again more bickering was had, and she was glad she left early as they made their way to Kiba's. On the way she made small talk with them but couldn't help but fell a little anxious. She knew why and knew she should just put it from her mind, his friendship was more important, at least that's what she kept chanting to herself. She took a deep breath as they approached the house and tried to mentally prepare herself for any and everything.

The party hadn't even started yet and Kiba had two empty beer bottles on the table. Though thankfully he hadn't pulled out the hard liquor...yet.

"Come on Shino why do you seem more up tight then usual? Does it have anything to do with why you actually look nice?" This was accompanied with a smirk and though Kiba couldn't see his eyes he knew Shino looked away. Sure enough Shino was without his jacket, being it was a night party he figured he'd be fine without it as long as he got home tonight. He was wearing green cargo pants and a brown t-shirt with the kanji for 'shinobi' in green and of course his glasses.

"There's nothing wrong with looking good at a party. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's wearing something different tonight." Hinata had entered the room around that part of the conversation.

"Aren't you dressed up because you invited someone to the party tonight as a date?" Shino's face was beat red and Kiba's grin grew as he tried to corner the bug user. 'She always has the worst timing!' He couldn't really be mad at her, it had just slipped while they'd been talking earlier this week that he had invited someone to the party tonight. Somehow Hinata had already jumped to saying he had a 'date.' He felt his heart pound against his ribcage and tried not to think about it, to think about her. How her smile seemed to always calm him, and while her anger was scary, her compassion was one of her truest powers. He fought back a sigh and tried not to think about, like he had been all week. Ever since she had found him in the forest it seemed like she had permanently planted herself in his life, and he was starting to like it, a lot.

"Shit you got a date. Who is it?"

"It's not a date, and it doesn't matter who it is." That was the one thing that really got him down most the time when he did try to think of her like that; regardless of how he felt there was no way she'd like him like that. It's not that he thought her shallow, but while most people had at least one person admit a crush on them in their lives, he had not. He knew it was a combination of his bloodline ability and his aloofness, and knew it was no ones fault but his own. He wanted to get closer with her, but they had just started becoming good friends and he was afraid she'd drop him altogether if he did try to make a move and she didn't like it. 'Why does life have to be so hard?'

"Shino? Earth to Shino. I know you're excited and all but really you gotta keep your head in the game the party has barely started." He looked around and sure enough a few people had already arrived. Ino had come dragging Shikamaru and Choji; Neji had arrived and was talking to his cousin and a handful of other chunin he'd met vaguely were also here. Most of the ones he didn't know were women, and beautiful, which would explain why Kiba invited him.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking about how far I'm going to have to drag your ass tonight to throw it in bed."

"If all goes well tonight I'll get to bed, though not on my own," he said with a wink. Shino gave him a blank stare before walking away to get a drink. He grabbed a wine cooler, enjoying the taste better then beer, and it's not like he was looking to get drunk anyway. He tried to relax as he leaned against a wall watching more people arrive. Sakura was coming to the party and she came because of him so they'd probably hang out most the party, he should just enjoy himself instead of worrying over things that just gave him a headache. He was watching Kiba chug another beer and cuddle up to a pretty brunette when he heard someone call his name.

"Shino!" He turned and smiled seeing Sakura waving at him and he felt his heart skip a beat. He was afraid for a moment when he saw her t-shirt was see though, until he saw the tank top underneath. 'Jeez what kind of girl do I think she is?' It looked good on her, and it seem like the room brightened just a little as she made her way in followed by Sai and Naruto. He wasn't expecting that, but then again it wasn't odd she brought her team. He waved and made his way over.

"Sakura, glad you could make it," he smiled and noticed what might have been a light blush stain her cheeks as she got a better look at him.

"Yeah," she said distantly and he was worried she was spacing out before she continued. "You look really nice tonight, you even decided not to wear your jacket."

"I figured it would be fine since the party's at night."

"Hey Shino! Wow I don't think I've ever seen you without your jacket, you're a lot skinner then I thought," said Naruto making a jab at him. Shino forced himself not to sigh.

"And I don't think I've ever seen you without orange before," he said casually and heard Sakura chuckle and even Sai cracked a smile, though it did look like one of his fake smiles.

"Jeez and you got a sense of humor, though a bad one, you need to learn from the master prankster," he said confidently and pointed his thumb at himself.

"I think I'd rather learn crocheting from Lee," he said blankly again and Sakura held a mouth over her hand to keep her laughing to a minimum. Naruto looked put out and humphed.

"Fine, I'll go where people can appreciate the greatness that is me," he said and stalked away. He turned to look at Sai but found the young man to already be kidnapped by Ino and he didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing but let it be for now.

"I didn't say it before, but you look good too Sakura. I really am glad you could make it," he gave her a sincere smile and was rewarded with a smile of her own.

"Thank you, I rarely get to dress in civilian cloths even though I have plenty of them, it's nice every now and then. By the way wheres the birthday boy? I figured I should give him his gift," she said grabbing the bag she brought with her and pulling out the neck of a bottle which was some high quality and highly potent sake according to the label.

"Maybe you should wait on that. If you give it to him now we'll try to go through the whole bottle tonight, and as funny as that is it's better to not knock the birthday boy out before the party's in full swing."

"Full swing? You mean so you can convince him to do embarrassing things while intoxicated that he can't remember and the next day when telling him what happened embellish a few things," she said with a smirk. He was kind of surprised she had read him so well.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side, you're much to intuitive for your own good."

"Why thank you good sir, now where might the snacks be? He showed her over to the food table to get a few snacks and munch and talk for a while. He grabbed another wine cooler and offered her one which she gratefully took and sipped on. She was telling him about her last visit to Garra a month back when she suddenly stopped mid sentence. She was staring at something behind him and turned to see Hinata talking to Naruto in a corner blushing like mad.

"Sakura," he called getting her attention.

"Sorry I didn't mean to space out," she said to him even though her attention was on the couple behind him.

"I wasn't sure if I was glad or not that Naruto came tonight, but whatever is going on needs to be sorted out one way or the other," Shino said surprising her with his own intuitiveness.

"I'm kind of surprised, I thought I was the only one who thought that," she said as she saw Hinata shyly meet Naruto's eyes as she continued talking. "I didn't know if I should invite him or not. And when I asked he wasn't sure but I really pushed to get him to come. Things can't stay as they are, they have to move in some direction, they've been stagnate for too long and it's getting painful on both sides." He felt his heart swell in something like pride at her view on the situation at hand. For good or bad she saw something had to happen, and even if it was something bad she'd be there to help Naruto along the way. The same way he'd help Hinata regardless of what happened. "Sometimes I'm afraid I'm too callous or impatient but it's hard to watch when people you care about are involved, don't you think?" He hmmed and nodded his head.

Ever since Hinata's confession she'd been waiting for something, anything, even if it was rejection, though she hoped maybe Naruto would give her a chance. She'd been waiting for so long for just a chance, 'Kind of like me...' He shocked himself with his own thoughts and gave a start that had Sakura asking if he was ok.

"Yeah, just thinking. I hope she at least gets a chance. She deserves that much."

"I know, ever since her confession I kind of stepped back and looked at my own feelings." She captured his attention completely with that one sentence, and left him wondering where this was going. "I've been on a team with Naruto for so long and he always asks me out, but I never thought of him that way, not when there was Sasuke. But, I eventually gave up on Sasuke then I was forced to really look at Naruto." She stopped for a second and had a wistful look on her face. His body felt tense and he had a burning desire to know just how that train of thought ended.

"And, how do you see him? Naruto I mean," he asked trying to sound casual though god knows if he succeeded right now.

"It took me a while and I even considered going on a date with him, but..." 'but...,' he echoed in his head. "The thought of kissing him kind of grossed me out," she finally admitted giggling a little. "Maybe a kiss on the cheek or hugs or something, but I felt really weird and grossed out when I thought about doing anything else with him." Her confession had lifted a weight off his shoulders and he let out a tense breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

"So you love him like a brother," he concluded and saw her nod.

"Something like that. I'm an only child so I can only assume it's something like that. But I guess it's kind of the same for your right?"

"Huh," he replied eloquently, and kicked himself for it. But he giggles reassured him at least his stupidity was cute.

"I mean you're an only child too right so you're not too sure on how it is to have a sibling?"

"Ah, well kind of." Her questioning glace made his heart beat a little faster as she seemed really interested and her whole attention was on him, he kind of liked it. "I don't have siblings, but I have a small cousin, Miyon, she's only 4 but I babysit her a lot and I like spending time with her."

"Oh I didn't know that. I thought maybe your clan wasn't that large because I didn't notice any kids and I never noticed any other Aburame at school other then you." 'Jeez how'd we accidentally slip into this subject?' He felt his heart flip flop and fought with himself over wanting to tell something and wanting to keep it in his family. Though his mom and dad were trying to make her a part of their family if they had any say in it. But she could also get in trouble if anyone found out she knew.

"Shino are you ok," she asked bringing him out of his revelry. "You seem like something's wrong."

"Ah, well, it's complicated. I'd like to tell you something, but I also don't want to get in trouble and I also don't want to get you in trouble."

"Huh? I'm sorry I'm not following," she said confused. "Listen if it's a problem don't worry about it, it doesn't matter if I know, if it gets us in trouble right?" She finished her current drink and grabbed for another wine cooler. The thing was he _did_ want to tell her. He liked opening up to her because in the end she opened up to him. So even though his mind was yelling at him to stop his heart said he could trust her.

"Sorry if I was being confusing. The thing is this is a clan secret so you can't let anyone know that you know." She sat with rapt attention, clans didn't like to divulge anything about themselves unless they had to, and for him to willingly tell her something important made her special. She blushed but took another drink and listened intently. "The thing is we don't know if it's genetics or the bloodline ability but for some reason the women in my clan have fertility problems. And since we tend to marry within the family a lot causes a lot of problems."

"That's why there aren't a lot of kids in your compound," she whispered seemingly shocked she had missed something so big.

"Yeah, actually my mother had three miscarriages before she had me." Sakura gasped and he thought he saw her starting to tear up before blinking them back and looking at him with a fire in her eyes that had a warmth welling up within him.

"That's horrible. Your clan needs to see Tsunade, she isn't specifically into gynecology and fertility but I _know _she can help you!" She seemed to determined to help, like this was one of the greatest atrocities she'd ever heard and she'd do whatever it took to make it better. He felt touched she seemed so determined to help his clan.

"Umm Sakura sorry but I didn't finish. Actually we _did_ see Tsunade which is why I have my cousin." Sakura took a second to process and probably do math and a light seemed to go over her head signaling she'd figured out his _four_ year old cousin came about the first year Tsunade was hokage.

"Ah, jeeze don't I seem like an idiot now, of course your clan would seek out the best medic nin in the country to help them." She tucked some hair behind her ear and her face was beat red and he had the urge to touch the side of his face. He was shocked when he looked to see his hand half raised before he got it under control and put it behind him to keep it from disobeying him. 'Jeeze I can't even control my own body...ok that sounded wronger then it should.'

"Sorry I just didn't finish telling you is all. You're not stupid at all. I thought it was really kind of you to get so worked up about my family even though you don't know us that well." She turned her head and caught his eyes in her own and they seemed to be stuck staring at each other and he tried to make sure his mischievous hand wasn't trying something without his permission again. Eventually it was her who broke the stare by closing her eyes and smiling.

"Thank you, you're really sweet." His heart was in his throat and he didn't trust himself to talk right then. 'Sweet? When was the last time I was called sweet?' "Though Shino," she said dragging him back to reality again. "Why is it you only have one new cousin even though Tsunade's been here for four years?"

"Ah well that's because of the fertility problem to begin with. You see because we have fertility problems a lot of my family have huge age gaps. My cousin's mother was 33 when Tsunade helped her get pregnant. The next age up in my family is an aunt who is 47 and can't have kids anymore. Then I have another cousin 3 years older then me, 20, but he isn't married yet. And then there's me, and then there's Kimiko who's 4."

"Ah so right now there's only 3 even _able_ to have children and only one is married, that makes sense. Hopefully though in the future Tsunade can fix that."

"I hope so too, Kimiko's mother had two miscarriages before asking Tsunade for help. And Kimiko is old enough now she wants to try again. Having more then one child in my family is extremely rare. I think the last time that happened was my grandfather and his brother."

"That does seem really odd, well I'm glad things look good for your family. I mean in the future it will help you too right?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you try to have kids I mean," she said it like it was obvious but just mentioning kids made him think of who he'd like to have kids with, and that led to thinking about how they'd go about making kids, of pink hair and warm skin, and he started choking on his drink. His red face having nothing to do with his lack of air. She patted him on his back but that did nothing to help cool his mind. 'The hell was I thinking?' Just as he was getting his breathing back under control and went to say something he was interrupted.

"There you are," came the gruff voice of one Inuzuka Kiba. "Man Shino I was beginning to think you ditched me." As he approached he saw Sakura standing next to him her hand still on his back and he smirked. "So this is your date? Damn never thought you had a thing for Sakura but I can definitely see what's so appealing," he said raking her over with his eyes. He felt a growl in his throat and knew Kiba had heard him. As much as he hated to say it he had to clear this up before Sakura got mad.

"She's not-"

"Kiba if you keep this up you might not get your present." Sakura was playing with him as she sang the last sentence and smirked.

"Present?"

"It is your birthday. But I was told brats don't get presents on their birthdays. So are you going to keep being a brat?" He seemed to be contemplating it, though considering how long the party had been going he could have also been buzzed and trying to comprehend the situation.

"Depends on what it is," he finally shot back. She picked up her bag, grabbed the neck of the bottle and held it out in front of her so he could read it. His eyes turned the size of sauces and he instantly became the picture of innocence. "Sakura did I happen to tell you how nice you look tonight? And how glad I am you came, I would have invited you personally but Shino insisted he do it." Shino narrowed his eyes and suppressed a growl. 'That ass hat, what's he think he's up to!'

"Fine fine you can stop kissing my ass now Kiba," she said with a grin and handed the bottle over to him. He grabbed the neck of the bottle but as she was pulling her hand away he stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

"Oh come on Sakura, you don't expect me to drink this on my own do you?" Shino couldn't tell if he was flirting or teasing but he didn't like it one bit.

"Kiba, maybe you should just take your present and find someone else who can appreciate it with you," he said in a deceptively calm voice.

"Oh come on she's the _hokage's_ apprentice. Everyone knows what Tsunade's like, I just want to know if the apprentice is as good as the teacher," he said still not letting go of her hand. Though he felt a little less threatened now, it seems he was trying to tease and provoke instead of flirt, he still didn't like the situation.

"Kiba I seriously doubt-"

"I accept," Sakura cut in.

"What?" It was simultaneously shouted from both Kiba and Shino.

"You wanna know what kind of skills I got Inuzuka then I accept your challenge," she said with a smirk. She waltzed over to a small end table, grabbed two chairs and dragged them on either side before plopping the bottle down in the middle of the table. Kiba smirked and went to the kitchen to get some shot glasses while Shino was at her side trying to talk her out of it.

"Sakura you really don't have to do this. Kiba is just being an ass. There's no reason to do this."

"Don't worry Shino I'll be fine. I'm no lightweight."

"I didn't say you were, but Kiba on the other hand is definitely a heavyweight. He won't stop til one of you falls over."

"Good, then we have an understanding," she said smirking as Kiba sat two shot glasses down and they stared at each other like the competitors they were. He instead stood next to her in case Kiba did drink her under the table and she needed help.

"You can still back out if you want," Kiba all but taunted.

"You'd like that wouldn't you," she said and grabbed her shot glass turning it right side up. He turned his over also and popped the cork on the bottle. Shino's eyes watered from the smell alone, that had to be strong enough to knock out an elephant. He couldn't step in and stop it, not now. It's not like he could make Sakura back down. 'I'll just have to make sure nothing happens to her. Jeeze I got a bad feeling about this.'

It started with one shot, they both took it like champs and it seemed like not much had happened. They waited a minute to make sure the other wasn't backing down before they did their second, once again nothing much. The third time around Kiba's eyes watered and he held back a cough but they heard it. Some more taunts thrown and they threw back their fourth, this time Sakura made a face as the hard liquor hit her stomach, but she wouldn't back down. Shino tried to get them to slow down and after their fifth shot they agreed to a five minute break, more or less to use the bathroom. They made it back to the table though both seemed slightly off balance and Shino once again whispered to Sakura to just let it go, it didn't matter.

"It matters to me," she said, she surprised the hell out of him by grabbing his shirt and pulling him almost on top of her so she could whisper in his ear. "Watch me." So up to the ninth shot they were both looking worse for wear and Kiba almost fell out of his seat once. Sakura was having trouble keeping her eyes focused but kept her hand on her glass to at least make sure she _could_ grab the glass. It came down to their eleventh shot, both of them were looking fucked up, and Shino had half a mind to just take her and leave, he didn't think she'd be able to fight back at this point, but for some reason she was determined to do this so he just watched at her side. They held the glasses in the air and slowly (probably because their depth perception was off) brought the glasses together to clink before they both threw the shot back. There was no initial reaction, after a minute Sakura started coughing and Shino grabbed her a water as it seemed like she couldn't stop. She took a deep drink and sighed before looking back to Kiba. Kiba...was sitting there. He hadn't moved, even blinked, since his last shot and Shino was starting to get worried.

"Kiba?" Kiba went to turn his head towards his friend when his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he fell over sideways half on a couch, half on the floor. He sighed, it looked like the duel was over. He made sure Sakura wasn't going to be falling out of her seat and then went and dragged Kiba to lay across his couch, hopefully to sleep a little of this off. Once he was sure he was laying there comfortably he went back to Sakura. "Sakura are you al right?"

"Shino, did you see me?"

"Of course I saw you I was here the whole time."

"I did it, I beat Kiba!" He felt the corners of his mouth twitch up, but really he couldn't help it, she seemed so excited, like it was a real accomplishment. She grabbed the bottle and he was ready to grab it away from her, but she shook it around a little listening, and after a minute she poured a shot in her shot glass again.

"Sakura I think you've had enough," he said some panic creeping into his voice.

"It's not for me silly." He let out a sigh of relief. "It's for you." Too soon.

"No thanks Sakura I'm not really a liquor person." Her face fell and she looked like he said he just kicked her cat.

"Come on it's only one. And it's to celebrate my win over Kiba. Come on one won't hurt you," she pleaded. He wanted to turn her down he really did, but with those big green eyes staring up at him, and how close she was as she held onto him to try and get him to drink. He sighed.

"Fine, but that's it." He grabbed the glass from her hand and his eyes watered from the smell of it. He stared at the seemingly innocent clear liquid, but he knew better. In one go he plugged his nose, opened his mouth, and let the vile tasting stuff slide down his throat. His eyes began watering and he coughed a few times trying to get rid of the taste. He felt it hit his stomach like a rock before slowly spreading throughout his stomach leaving a warm tingling feeling behind. He took a minute to recover and saw Sakura _very_ close to him smiling.

"Sakura?"

"You know that was technically an indirect kiss right," she said so out of the blue and calmly he tripped and slid to the ground staring up at her gaping at her. But she was right, he looked to the glass he just drank from and sure enough he saw where her lip gloss had smeared on the glass. He hesitantly ran his tongue along his lips and tasted strawberry lip balm. He felt like his heart was fighting to get out of his chest and he did his best to keep in where it was. All she did at his antics were giggle. "You're so cute when you're flustered, I might just have to do that more often." He tried to pull himself together and got back to his feet. 'The hell? Is she...is she flirting with me?'

"Why don't we go outside and get some air?" He figured the air would do them both some good, and if she tried something cute like that again at least there wouldn't be witnesses. He tried to help her up but she tripped and slid to the floor. He sighed, got better footing and picked her up bridal style. He expected her to object, but on the contrary she put her arms around his neck and snuggled into him. His face was beat red but if anyone asked it was the alcohol. He made his way outside on the porch towards the far corner of the yard where there was a hammock between two maple trees. He sat down on it first, sitting up on the edge before slowly rolling her over on it, she lay on her back, he legs dangling over the edge since they were sitting on it the short way. He stayed upright not trusting her or himself not to do something stupid. Not that he didn't want to, but he figured when she woke up the next morning she'd be pissed. But then again she was flirting with him, that was a good sign wasn't it?

"Are you feeling ok?' It was funny as she was the one asking him. She had 11 shots of the stuff, he only had one.

"Yeah, I was more worried about you. That's a lot of alcohol for such a small body." She laughed and rolled on her left side to face him.

"Says you, you've never seen all my body," she said with a wink that caught his heart in his throat as his eyes roved over her long neck down the front of her shirt where he could see her cleavage.

"Yeah you're right, sorry I didn't mean anything by it."

"Are you sure about that?"

"E-excuse me?" He was definitely out of his comfort zone. He liked that she was flirting with him but he was worried it was only because she was drunk and he was the closest guy to her right now. She could be demanding when she was sober, but now she was down right dominant. He felt like a mouse being stalked by a cat, the only problem was he was pretty sure he wouldn't mind being caught.

"You look so cute when you're flustered, like when you got so wound up about the indirect kiss." His face could rival a tomato and he turned his eyes away from her hoping getting her out of his line of view would help calm him down. He knew what he should do, he should leave and let her sit out here and cool off and work off some of the alcohol. He could even get Naruto, Sai, or even Ino to come over and help him figure out what to do with her. But he couldn't bring himself to leave her side, or look her in the eye, just in case...something did happen. He knew it could potentially ruin their new friendship, but he'd never wanted something so badly, never wanted someone so badly and it was hard to even move if it was away from her. "It makes me wonder," she said softly and he turned his head unsure if she said more. Where she was leaning against him before she shuffled her weight and he fell back on the hammock, one of her arms planted on the other side of his body effectively trapping him as she slowly leaned closer to his face. "What would you do...about a real kiss..." The last part was nothing more then a whisper on his lips as her eyes slid closed and her mouth found his.

His mind was reeling and he couldn't hold onto one feeling long enough to decipher it. All but one, _want_, he wanted to hold her, to touch her, taste her, breath her. She was everything, all around him, all encompassing him. He was vaguely aware of his own lips moving across hers and he groaned as she lowered her upper body onto his, feeling her soft chest pushing against his own as her hand found its way into his hair. It may have been moments, it might have been ten minutes, but at that time there was only him and her, and their warmth and he never wanted to leave. He knew then and there if when she sobered up there was even the slightest chance of being more then friends he'd take it. She moaned slowly parting her lips and he tasted strawberry again for a minute before he felt her tongue against his and his control was gone. He put his arms around her and rolled her onto her back, she giggled a little as their lips broke contact but it was only for a moment and then his mouth was back on hers and their hands were busy exploring the others bodies. His hands found the bottom of her shirt and timidly let his fingers slide under the bottom of the fabric to feel her warm skin beneath his fingers. His heart was beating in his throat and he wasn't sure how he was able to breath at this point. She gasped his name, "Shino," and he felt himself coming undone, until he heard his name again, but it wasn't from the girl beneath him.

"Shino," the call came again from the house. He slowly pulled his lips away from Sakuras to see her panting and flushed beneath him and it took everything he had to turn his head towards the house to see a flustered Hinata calling for him. He had no doubt in his mind she'd already used byakugan to see where he was and what he was doing and was doing the polite thing by calling for him from a distance to only indirectly break it up. "Please I need help," she continued. "Lee challenged Kiba to a run through Konoha, and Kiba said he'd do it naked." He felt his heart sink and let his head fall. He was being pulled away because his damn friend was a drunken fucktard! His eyes went to Sakura and she seemed disappointed but sighed and relented.

"Go on, you can't leave poor Hinata to him alone, god knows what would happen to her." Her didn't want to, but agreed as he rolled off of her, trying to fixed his rumpled cloths and banish the thought of her hands exploring his body from his mind...for now. "Don't worry I'll have Ino take me home," she said reading his expression as he got up and looked back at her.

"Sorry again, I told you he'd do something like this." He turned to go but felt a hand on his sleeve and turned back just in time for her to pull him down by the cuff of his shirt for one more quick kiss before she let him go.

"Thanks Shino, I had fun." With that she slowly pulled herself to her feet and started for the house and he was left gobsmacked until Hinata called him back to reality. 'When I find that mutt, I'm going to fix him," he though as he saw Sakura swagger off to the party and he made his way after Hinata down the road.

AN: So what did you think of Shino's POV? I can easily slip back into Sakura POV or go to Shino or do both next chapter, what do you guys think?


	5. Awkward

AN: I cannot convey how sorry I am this took so long. I have been in the process of moving out, my fiance and I have a business doing artist alley at a con a month. And I am still going to school full time and took one final today and have another Thursday. Though even with all those excuses my main problem was the plot. I started this off as fluffy fun with a weak plot. But then I hated it and last time I did a chapter I revised the plot. But when I started writing this chapter I wrote myself into a corner so I revised the plot a third time, rewrote the chapter and finally got where I was happy with it. So sorry for the long wait hope you like.

Disclaimer: I no own, you no sue.

Unknown

Chapter 5: Awkward

The morning sunlight was burning through her retina and her head throbbed like Tsunade was using a chakra enhanced punch to her temple. There was a groan as her stomach turned and she was thankful her wastebasket was next to her bed as she quickly rolled over and emptied her stomach contents in the bin. 'Shit I _really_ shouldn't have drank last night.' Sakura put a small amount of chakra to her hand and pressed it to her head to help with the headache. The nausea though would have to work itself out though since using chakra to heal nausea was more work then it was worth for a hangover.

She hadn't intended to drink so much last night but Kiba had seriously rubbed her the wrong way and she couldn't leave it as it was, the dog needed to be put in his place. For some reason when he teased Shino it had really annoyed her, seriously he had nothing better to do then mess with them last night? With the teammates and teachers she'd had over the years she had a bit of a competitive streak and liked to prove her worth. For some reason she felt she had to prove herself, _especially_ in front of Shino, like she was telling him she could handle his teammates. 'God but if Kiba got back up and was running around after passing out I guess he really is a heavyweight.' Then like a smack to the face she remembered exactly what she'd did last night after getting fucked up.

'Oh my god! I fucking flirted with him! Forget that I fucking make out with him!' She felt her heart leap to her throat and with her nausea she felt sick again but held it back. She took a few deep calming breaths but she couldn't get the blush off her face as she thought back to how good his lips tasted, how warm he felt, and how much she wanted _more_. She was avoiding hitting on him because she was afraid she'd ruin their friendship coming onto him so soon but if the way he reacted last night was any indication... 'I might have a chance!' She sat up quickly excited, then fell back to her side as she tried to calm the nausea she'd stirred up again.

'Ugh, recover first then work on seducing.' She pulled herself to the kitchen for some medicine for her nausea and then took a shower to help her recover. She exited the shower feeling more like herself, though she was deep in thought. She had to go about this carefully, she was drunk last night and he might think she just got grabby when she was drunk. She wasn't normally, but then again she'd never been around someone she had a crush on when drunk so it's not like even she knew what she was going to do. Thinking back on how Kiba had interrupted them she thought that might have been for the best since she _definitely_ didn't want to seem like some easy chick who'd do _that_ the first chance she got with her friends. She got a flash of his blushing face in her head and unknown to her a smile crept on her face. 'He really is cute when he's flustered, I definitely have to do that more often.' She finished getting dressed in civilian cloths since she wasn't going back to work yet, and decided to track down the beetle boy.

'Let's see, he said that he and Hinata usually help clean up Kiba's messes so I guess Kiba's house is a good place to start. I wonder if Hinata's still there, that poor girl, I hope _she_ didn't have to track Kiba down last night.

He was seriously starting to wonder if being Kiba's teammate was worth it at this point. After he had chased Kiba down last night and forced him into some pants before they were caught he dragged him back to the party to find out Ino had taken Sakura home. He tried not to think about last night since every time he thought about it he thought about _her_. Then he'd think about them in the hammock last night and his face would get completely red like he'd been doing all morning. Kiba would keep asking him what he was thinking about but he'd say nothing, and even Hinata would avert her eyes and not say anything. Thankfully she was keeping what she saw to herself.

So he ended up wearing the same cloths from last night but borrowed a jacket from Kiba, thankfully without the fur hood. The last thing he needed was to be hot in the middle of summer cleaning up over a party. Though he did enjoy Sakura's reaction to him last night, it felt good and literally less restrictive between the two of them.

They'd started cleaning a little last night when the last of the party goers had either left or passed out. They'd been awake for maybe two hours and were just now finishing up. He wanted nothing more then a bath and maybe a nap, even when he tried to sleep last night he tossed and turned for a while before finally falling asleep thinking of _her_. He tried to get some info out of Ino when she came back to the party on how Sakura was when drunk but all Ino said was she got a bit competitive, so when he asked about Sakura hitting on people Ino looked at him like she was gonna smack him and said her friend wasn't like that, drunk or not. In an odd way that gave him hope. Enough that he wasn't going to let last night go and actually try to do something about it. 'Now if I could just figure out what...' It was a sad state that even though he decided to wanted Sakura he was completely clueless as to how to go about doing that.

Thankfully said girl found that moment to stumble out of his thoughts and into the house. "Kiba, Shino, Hinata," she called out making her way through the hall to the living room. She was looking around for them and waved a little as her eyes landed on them, though it might have been his imagination he thought her eyes lingered on him a bit longer. "Hi guys I knocked on the door but no one answered so I came in. Jeez looks like I left the party too early," she said looking around at the mess that still cluttered the room.

"I think you left at just the right time," Hinata joked tying off another garbage bag. "I don't think you'd wanna see Kiba streaking down the road." Sakura gave Kiba a look that said 'I am not amused.' Kiba just smiled at her cheekily.

"So what are you doing here Sakura? I doubt you wanna help us clean up," said Kiba going straight to the point. Sakura averted her gaze for a second but thankfully did not blush.

"Shino and I made plans to go to lunch today," she said casually with a small smile. Shino obviously looked confused and stared at her, 'Did we make plans?' "Don't tell me you forgot," she said with a slight pout. "I know we drank a little last night but I didn't think you were more of a lightweight then me," she said with a giggle. She was acting a little more open and flirty then usual and he almost missed the tilt of her head saying 'come on, go with it.' He looked in her eyes and saw her almost begging him to go along with her story.

"Ah, sorry must have forgotten in between the drinking contest you and Kiba did and tracking down a naked Kiba." The both of them actually blushed remembering their antics from the night before, feeling equally ashamed.

"Come on, I'll make it up to you, I'll buy." He looked back at his friends and handed the half empty trash bag to Kiba who looked shocked his friend was leaving to eat lunch with a girl. Though no one knew if he was more shocked Shino was leaving him to clean up his own mess or because he was technically going on a lunch date with a woman.

"Sorry, I must have forgot. Will you guys be ok?" Before Kiba could vehemently protest Hinata put her hand over his mouth.

"It's fine Shino, we're almost done, have fun." To top it off she gave a small wave as she made her and Kiba get back to cleaning. They both made it out the door and about a block away before he finally turned to her.

"Not that I don't appreciate the save, but what was that about?" She smiled in a mischievous way that made his stomach flip and his face heat up, and unfortunately his current jacket didn't hide it.

"I really do want to take you to lunch but I figured it'd be easier to lie and say we already had plans then ask you out in front of Kiba. I don't know why but he always rubs me the wrong way."

"Really? I never knew that, you always act fine together one missions."

"Well of course we do on missions, I am professional." At his blank look she laughed a bit embarrassed. "Well most the time, we never really hang out much otherwise though I'm not too saddened." Even though they were chatting happily and enjoying the others company in the back of there head they were both thinking about the same thing. 'How the hell do I bring up last night?'

'How the hell do I bring up last night?'

"So Sakura where did you want to eat?"

"Hmm, well I don't care what kind of food but I don't want to eat at a restaurant, I want to get it to go and eat elsewhere."

"How about we get some soba to go? I know this place down by the academy..." Much chatting and some take out Soba later found them eating Soba on a park bench. They ate with a bit of idle chit chat neither actually bringing up what they were both thinking about. Sakura stood up with her empty carton and tossed it in a nearby garbage can then stretching looking at Shino over her shoulder and couldn't help the smile that crawled across her face as she noticed him looking at her from above his glaces. And when he noticed he was caught he blushed and looked away quickly.

"Shino, I really like you." He coughed as he choked on a bite of Soba and she felt kind of bad about springing that on him as she pat his back. "Sorry I didn't mean to make you choke."

"I-It's ok." He was stuttering and even with the borrowed jacket he couldn't hide the blush. 'He's so cute, kinda innocent, though not that he doesn't have potential.'

"I know it sounds kind of childish to say it like that but I always think it's better to say it straight forward so there's no mistake."

"Are you sure? I mean we've only recently gotten close." He saw her smile dim a bit and she gave him a questioning glance but no question followed.

"It's not like there's a set time for these things. Even though it's a bit unbelievable you've heard of live at first site right?" Even as she spoke like she was completely confident her cheeks became a rosy color.

"But we've known each other for a while." Her smile turned into a pout and she turned around to fully face him crossing her arms over her chest.

"It doesn't matter! Anyway aren't you forgetting something?"

"Forgetting something?"

"Jeez, seriously? I figured you might not have much experience but I didn't think I'd have to spell it out for you. _Usually_ when someone tells someone they like they the other person usually tells them how they feel in return." She turned with her arms crossed over her chest feeling a little exasperated but she reeled herself in as he looked completely flabbergasted.

His face was completely red and his soba container sat on his lap forgotten as she seemed to try and figure out what to say. She felt kind of bad trying to make him say it knowing he wasn't very talkative but she'd had a couple of things in the past she thought were relationships but apparently she was the only one who thought that. Was is bad she wanted to make sure she wasn't being played with again. 'Well maybe that is a bit harsh I mean Shino is nothing like any guy I've dated before.' She looked up from her thoughts suddenly as Shino stood, his face still red, and came to stand right in front of her, the soba left on the bench. She thought he was going to pop with how red his face was but what she wasn't expecting was him to grab her shoulders and pull her forward before slanting his face and catching her lips in his own. She felt her heart jump and her face redden shocking her still against him before she realized 'he's kissing...me.' After the realization finally sunk in she sank against him her eyes sliding shut and pressing her lips more fully against his.

It wasn't her first kiss, or even their first kiss, but it felt like one. She felt gobsmacked by the fact the kiss was actually making her knees weak and her head spin. She didn't even realize when her arms wrapped around his neck until one of them was threading in his hair. She was even more surprised when he licked her lips softly leaving them tingling as she opened them letting his tongue slide by and against her own tasting faintly of soba. His breath hot and fanning against her cheek as his arms pulled her more fully against him until they were both gasping for breath and had to pull away. His glasses were askew and she couldn't help the giggle as she reached up to straighten them.

"S-sorry, I'm not always great with words so I thought actions would work." 'Straight forward, I like that,' she through to herself.

"Yeah, they work," she said with a giggle. "It fits you." The blush on her face was cute enough that his hand reached out to cup the side of her face, surprising the both of them but she reached up to hold her hand over his leaning into his touch. A sudden noise had them both springing apart looking guilty as if they were doing something they weren't supposed to. They both looked at Shino's shoulder to see a beetle noisily buzzing near his head. The both sighed in relief and laughed a little.

"You'd think ninjas wouldn't be so easy to startle right?"

"Ah." He rubbed the back of his head a bit embarrassed. "Maybe the park isn't the best place then?"

"Yeah maybe we should go somewhere else."

"I really want to but this isn't my beetle," he said turning to look at it. "Apparently my parents want me to come home. Anyway I also really want to get a shower after having to help Kiba get his pants back on I feel just a bit dirty." The look on Sakura's face obviously said she felt the same.

"Ah well it can't be helped then. I have to go to the hospital again tomorrow to have Tsunade re-evaluate me. I hope I can start training again, it feels so weird not being able to use my chakra."

"I guess so, I at least was able to train after I got out of the hospital. How are you feeling?"

"Better but I still feel a bit tired, kind of odd I think, I usually bounce back quicker then this."

"I really don't know what to say except good luck tomorrow. Actually, did you want to have lunch tomorrow?"

"Only if you'll train with me after."

"You mean if Tsunade ok's you."

"Of course she will, it's been over a week I'll be fine."

"I really don't want to go but if I don't soon my parents will get ideas in their head."

"You mean like us dating. Like we already are?"

"No I mean worse, like thinking we eloped." It was her turn for her face to turn a darker shade then her hair.

"Elope? Seriously?"

"My parents have very eccentric imaginations."

"I guess so." They both look at each other wondering how to say goodbye before Sakura finally stepped up and leaned up to give him a soft but chaste kiss on the lips.

"See you tomorrow."

"I'll find you." Sakura made her way back towards her house feeling more bubbly then usual. In any other circumstances she would go to Ino and tell her about what happened, and with Ino it was sure to get around the village quickly. But she was loath to tell her just yet as she knew her friend would gloat. Even the thought of telling Naruto or Sai would bring about 'I told you so's.' Though she wouldn't lie if they asked she wasn't going to put the info out there for them. 'But what do I do then? I want to go talk to Ino but at the same time I don't.' Then the answer to her problem almost ran right into her.

"Oh Sakura!"

"Shizune, what are you doing here?"

"Ah I was able to get away for a lunch break and I wanted to grab some dango."

"Can I come with you?"

"Sure, I've been meaning to ask how you've been anyway." Sakura fell in step next to her.

"Not bad, it's odd not being able to use chakra though after using it for so many years. I feel a lot weaker."

"Weaker?"

"Ah not like fatigued or anything, more like vulnerable."

"Ah well that's understandable though I know the Aburame's are all extremely grateful for what you did for Shino."

"I'm just happy it was me who found him and not someone else."

"Really that's some kind of luck, or maybe fate." Sakura tripped but quickly caught herself and noticed the odd look Shizune was giving her.

"F-fate? Why do you say that?"

"Well because not only did a fellow leaf shinobi find him but also one of our best medic nins. If it had been Sai or Shikamaru they would have helped him but it wouldn't have been the help he needed. I mean that kind of coincidence doesn't come along all the time, it's fate!"

"Wow, I guess I never thought of it like that. Fate huh?" She really never had questioned it before. The fact was she had found an injured comrade and healed him and never thought about the details before. That _she_ just happened to find _him_ and helped save his arm and maybe even his life. 'But do I really believe in fate?'

"So I heard you've been spending a lot more time with Shino since you got out of the hospital. Isn't it odd for doctors to be making house calls now a days," she said with a teasing lilt to her voice that let Sakura know she was on to her.  
"It's not like that, that would be unprofessional. They were personal calls."

"Personal?"

"Yes, we're dating. It's normal for us to see each other." This time it was Shizune who tripped as Sakura willed the blush on her face away but the best she could do was keep it to a soft pink.

"Dating? When did that happen? I thought you might have liked each other but you're already dating?"

"Shh, please don't yell it too loud!" At this point they had stopped walking and were standing on the side of the street with Sakura looking around to see if anyone was eavesdropping.

"But why, you're not keeping it a secret are you?"

"N-no, but everyone was hinting there was something _going on_ before it actually was and right now I'm just avoiding the big 'I told you so.' That and I don't want people to make a big deal out of it. I don't think Shino's dated much before."

"Hmm I guess so but you know it's going to come out eventually anyway."

"I know," she sighed. "But I plan on avoiding it for as long as I can." The two women started walking again thought Sakura still had her eyes darting back and forth to see if someone was listening in on their conversation.

"I'm really happy for you though. It's been almost a year since you're last date. I know you work all the time but you should still take a step back and enjoy life every now and then."

"Spoken like a woman in love." Shizune cracked a smile but didn't blush like Sakura usually did when talking about dating.

"Almost eight months now."

"Really I would have never guessed you and Iruka-sensei would even date, but I'm glad for you. Especially after he dated Anko for a while and they turned out really bad." She blanched as she realized she was talking to the man's current girlfriend about his ex and wondered if that was rude. "Ah sorry I didn't mean to bring that up."

"It can't be helped, it's people's pasts that help them choose a future."

"Why do you talk like you have wisdom of someone Shishou's age?" She heard a snort as Shizune covered her mouth but even then she could hear the peals of laughter.

"That's so horrible, don't ever let her know you said that." It was about this time that they approached the outside of the dango shop and the two women decided to part ways.

"Thanks for the talk Shizune."

"No problem, and be careful with him."

"What do you mean?" Shizune gave her a mysterious smile.

"Hmm, maybe his teammates might know." And she left the woman wondering what the hell that meant.

Shino really wished he would have just ignored the summons but unfortunately he had no idea what would be waiting for him. He got home and was immediately bombarded with questions. Apparently Kiba let slip that he and Sakura had plans to eat lunch together today which meant his mother and father were already trying to plan their wedding. After an hours of explaining they had just started dating that day and they were not engaged he was tired of talking to the brick wall he called parents and retreated to his room.

He held his recently repaired arm over his head and stared at the skin that was completely normal save the tiny scar where it was reattatched. Even that seemed like it had been nothing more then a deep cut that had been stitched together. The scar didn't reveal the true severity of the wound he had received just a week ago. 'She really is amazing.' Not that the medics that finished healing him weren't but she was able to take so little and do so much with it. With one hand she could destroy mountains and crush entire armies and with that same hand she could give life and limb back. So much destructive power but she didn't use it unless it was needed. Even when given the option of killing the beatle or letting it live with her for a few months, she couldn't bring herself to kill something she had tried to help. 'She has such a big heart.'

He really wanted to sneak out of his room and track her down but he didn't want to come off as stalkerish. He didn't know if she knew it or not but this was the first actual relationship he had ever had. He wasn't sure of how soon was too soon for anything. He was 19 now and most people his age had already had sex, where as the kiss with Sakura...was his first. He kind of wished he had someone he could get advice from but the only person who might have less experience then him would be Naruto but he wasn't sure he was desperate enough for that yet.

Just then a single beetle flew in through his window and he held his hand out for it to land on. It landed on his finger and crawled onto the back of his hand. It fluttered it's wings a few times before relaying the information to him. Ever since she had picked up a stow away (his missing beetle) he had been sending one of his own to communicate with it to keep him informed on Sakura. It was nothing too important like where she was all hours of the day. Or anything perverse like what color underwear she was wearing. It was more like how was she feeling that day, was she in a good mood, did she seem tired or depressed. He could come out and ask her these things but until today he didn't know if that was something a person you just became friends with could ask.

Even if he could hear it from her he still felt better sending a beetle to watch over her. That and it would warn him if the solution to keep her from attracting other beetles wore off or not. 'That would be horrible,' he thought to himself just seeing her running from a swarm of beetles all wanting to mate with her one. For some reason though a picture of him chasing after her wanting to mate popped in his head and he had to smack himself up side the head to dislodge it from his thoughts. 'There is seriously something wrong with me.' He sat up in bed as he heard a knock at the door.

"Shino? Can I come in?"

"Hisoka, is that you?" His older cousin entered the room, standing a few inches taller at 6'4 also wearing a light jacket and sun glasses along with short dark blue pants and problably a darker shirt hidden under the jacket, his hair longer and tied in a ponytail going between his shoulder blades. It was his solution for trying to tame the untamed Aburame hair. It wasn't odd that his cousin would visit but it was already after dinner.

"What are you doing here so late?"

"I wanted to visit sooner but it's so busy in your house. Your parents made sure no one came to visit the same night Sakura-sensei came over. Then you were at your friend Kiba's house for his birthday and I came by earlier but you still weren't home. For being off call for injuries you sure get around." He knew his cousin was only teasing but he felt kind of bad. He was the closest relative he had in age and he looked up to him like an older brother when they were kids.

"Sorry I didn't really plan for anything. You could have just snuck over if you really wanted to. I doubt even if mom and dad found out they'd really care."

"That's the thing, I did, a few nights ago. I would have said hi but I didn't want to ruin the 'mood.'"

"Mood?"

"Did I read it wrong? When you and Sakura-sensei were taking on the swing outside after dinner?" 'Shit he saw that,' Shino yelled at himself as he felt his face heat up.

"N-no you weren't wrong," he admitted looking away unable to meet his cousins eyes. His cousin wasn't very fond of dating only because he'd been rejected plenty of times before by girls and left him with a bit of hate towards them. His cousin had finally agreed to an arranged marriage and he had been going through a matchmaker for almost 6 months now without much luck. But he wasn't sure how to bring up such a sore subject without rubbing it in his face.

"Sakura is a very kind person. She was on the same team as Naruto and Sasuke, so she's also understanding."

"Understanding? You make it sound like there's something wrong with our bloodline."

"That's not it and you know it," he sighed. "I think if you talked to her you'd really like her."

"So, you are interested in her?" The way Shino continued to avoid his eyes answered the question for him. "Otherwise I don't think you'd be pushing me so much to get along with her."

"We're dating...actually," he said and finally met his cousins eyes as his cousin lowered his glasses to give him a disbelieving look.

"Seriously? But, Shino...you..." His cousin fought to find certain words but came up empty, he couldn't tell what exactly he was trying to convey: disbelief, happiness, bitterness; of all the emotions confusion and shock were most prominent.

"Just...just be careful, you don't have a lot of experience with girls and I hate to see you get hurt."

"Thanks." The response might have been blander then he wanted but he couldn't find the right words either it seemed.

"I'll see you later, night." Shino waved at his cousin as he left and felt both guilty and a bit mad at the same time. He was happy he and Sakura were dating and should be happy to tell his friends and family, but his cousin made him feel guilty. Then he pissed him off by implying he had no experience and that Sakura might 'hurt' him. Even if he hadn't been in a relationship before he knew it came with risks and he was more then prepared to take them. His cousins visit had rattled him and his thoughts were swirling so much he didn't realize he dozed off until he was awakened by a noise. His shinobi senses kicked in and he looked up at the window over his bead where the noise came from to see a figure slipping in. If not for the familiar chakra he might have attacked, instead he was just shocked at the figure climbing in his window.

"Sakura?"

AN: I tried to make sure it was long to make up for the wait. Thank you everyone for your reviews and hope it won't take as long to get the next chapter out.


	6. A Step Closer

AN: I am SOOOO sorry for the wait. I fought for almost a month on if I should put the lemon in or not but I figured more people would be made if I teased and made it seem like there'd be a lemon when there wasn't. Then summer came and I worked, and did artist alley at three cons, and broke my ankle, and had doctors appointments, a family death, and now I think I lost a job today but I finally finished it. BTW I like doing longer chapters but then I have problems finding a cut off area. I can't guarantee but I might be able to update sooner if I have shorter chapters, what do you guys think, would you like faster updates but shorter chapters?

Alert: There is a lemon in this chapter, children stay clear.

Chapter 6: A Step Closer

As Shino left to return home Sakura was left wondering what Shizune was talking about earlier about being 'careful' with him. She thought it was just because he'd never really dated before, but was there something more? 'Hmmm.' She actually stropped in the middle of the road to wonder. She could go home and relax the rest of the day since she had nothing else she could do...but...damn she knew she couldn't relax with such a weird warning playing around in her head. 'Damn Shizune.' So with a sigh she figured she'd try seeking out the one teammate of his she did like. Though her last known location was at the house of the one she didn't like.

She made her way back to Kiba's wondering if they might have finished and she could just find Hinata on her own but unfortunately they were still there apparently cleaning dishes when she walked back in.

"Sakura-chan?" It was Hinata who saw her first.

"Hi Hinata, hi Kiba."

"What are you doing here? I thought you and Shino were on your 'date'?"

"Why? Jealous," she teased him before turning back to Hinata.

"Ne Hinata I was wondering if you'd want to have a little girl talk with me?" Hinata glanced at Kiba who looked like he wanted use Sakura as Akamaru's chew toy.

"Umm are you sure?"

"Of course, you probably stayed the night right? We could talk at the hot springs, this time of day no one will be around." The poor girl seemed to be assessing herself as Sakura said that and decided 'yes I do indeed need a bath.'

"Well it would be refreshing..."

"Great!" She walked up and put her arm around the shy busty girl and started leading them out the door with Kiba protesting behind them.

"Is Kiba really that mad," Sakura whispered as they came to the front door.

"No, he's probably just not wanting to be left out. We actually cleaned all the dishes from last night, we were washing the ones we used for lunch..." They continued chit chatting until they came upon the hot springs which were almost deserted at this time of day. It was only a mother and her two children and two older women already inside as they stripped and sat to bath. Hinata was the first one making it to the hot spring slipping into the blissfully hot water with an 'ahh,' Sakura slipping in a moment later.

"So how was the party last night?"

"You were there, you should know." She wasn't saying it rudely just questionably, as if wondering if Sakura really didn't remember anything.

"Not that, I mean between you and Naruto." Hinata's face though red from the heat seemed to darken even further.

"N-Naruto? We talked a bit before you and Kiba started drinking and he seemed a bit uncomfortable. But then I think he saw you and Shino go outside, he looked a little sad so I talked to him again. It was kind of nice, but then Kiba-"

"Kiba had to get naked and ruin it for everyone." Hinata's dainty eyebrow rose and Sakura quickly looked away clearing her throat. "A-anyway, there was kind of something I wanted to ask you about. Something Shizune said to me I didn't understand. I was telling her.." She cut off looking around worried someone might be listening in before finally continuing though in a voice just above a whisper. "I was telling her that Shino and I...are together." A loud gasp drew the attention of everyone around them as Hinata quickly covered her mouth and coughed lightly.

"Is it really that big of a surprise," Sakura asked. She was almost positive with what Hinata had seen the night before and even today that they might get together.

"S-sorry it's not that I don't think you guys _wouldn't_ date. It's more like, not for you to take this the wrong way of course, but I didn't quite know you're...intentions." Even though it seemed to take all her control to keep eye contact with Sakura she did so locking eyes with her.

"I-intentions? Hinata you make me sounds like a-" She paused as she noticed the looks she was getting from the others again and even saw the mother shooing her children out of the water. She pulled Hinata to the edge where it was more secluded. "You make me sound like a slut," she whispered harshly.

"N-no! I swear it's not like that! I just, you, I mean-" She stopped herself and took a breath with Sakura waiting trying to figure out just what she meant.

"I mean that you are very pretty and very _available._ You live on your own, your attractive, and you aren't in a clan or anything so you have no obligations to anyone but yourself. You're _free. _You've had relationships." At the pointed look Sakura gave her she clarified further. "Some sexual, some not. But the bottom line is Sakura, that he hasn't."

"Well I'm not trying to put him down but with as quiet and aloof as he is it's not surprising he's a virgin."

"No Sakura, not just sex. _Relationships. _He's never had a girlfriend, he's never dated, he's never even really tried for anything, Sakura I think you took his first kiss."

"Huh?" As she eloquently put her brain was trying to wrap it's way around this new information. 'He's 20 years old, and he's never even been kissed!' She felt herself slip deeper into the water. She figured he might not be very experienced but she figured he'd have _some_ experience. Everyone usually got their first kiss stolen either with someone they like or when they were drunk at a party, or just messing around with friends. Hell she thought he might have even tried feeling Hinata up when they were younger, she knew she wouldn't put it passed Kiba.

"P-please don't think badly of him. It's not like he hasn't tried, but after the fourth rejection he kind of decided to wait and see what happened. I mean it's not that uncommon. He has an older cousin who's had to resort to arranged marriage. Sakura in all seriousness most people won't even give him the time of day once they hear his name." That seemed to snap her out of her stupor.

"That's horrible! Girls will throw themselves at an Uchiha, or a Hyuga, but they hear Aburame and they run? How shallow are people! There's absolutely nothing wrong with him or his family! He's cute, and sweet, and flusters easily if you know how, and gets this cute look on his face when you embarrass him, and..." Hinata kind of zoned out the rant at that point but this talk had made her happy and put some of her fears at ease. Not that Sakura was easy or a slut by any means but she also had never had much of a steady relationship or one that lasted very long. But after hearing her talk about her teammate that way she felt that whatever happened she could trust her.

After the two kunoichi left the bath and got dressed to go home Sakura was stewing. She was mad and astonished and a lot of other emotions that were going by too fast for her to identify. She knew she was a lot more accepting then most people, hell she actually gave Sai a chance, but for people to treat him like he wasn't even a person! Just a tool they sometimes used when they had to! She knew what it was like to be looked down on, though for her it was because she never had a clan or bloodline limit, and therefore people thought her weak. But she proved to all of them everyday she was not weak! And she felt like she had to prove to Shino that she really liked him and wanted to be with him no matter what people thought. She wasn't even sure who she was trying to prove it to, but damnit when words didn't work it took action! To show him that he was a really great guy who anyone was lucky to be with. Which is what led her to where they were now. She had snuck into his families compound, tracked him down, and snuck into his room where he was now looking at her wondering what the hell was going on and she had a vague idea of just _what_ she was going to do to prove her point that he had no idea about.

"Sakura?" She put a hand over his mouth as she crawled in his window and then into his bed since it was below said window. "What are you doing here," he whispered as he sat up only to have her push him back down.

"I needed to see you," even as she said the words her face were a dark pink and even though she had an idea of what she wanted to do Shizune's words from before popped into her head 'be careful with him.' "For some reason I had to see you tonight. But...only if you want me to be here."

"Of course I want you to be here." His hand lifted as he sat up to cup her cheek. "I'm glad you're here."

"Shino." She closed the gap between them letting her lips slowly melt onto his making him gasp. She took the opportunity to let her tongue slip into his mouth feeling his own shyly run along hers in an unsure manner. Her hand slipped along the back of his neck into his hair lightly grabbing it as her soft kiss became more aggressive devouring his mouth. She used her leverage on his head to slowly lower him to the bed, his arms coming to rest on her waist as she straddled his hips only breaking the kiss when he pulled back.

He pulled back partially to catch his breath and partially to get his bearings. He had fallen asleep fully clothed and his jacket seemed much hotter, without thinking he unzipped it and went to sit up and take it off when he noticed her eyes devouring him and as he sat up to take his coat off she did it for him running her hands over his upper body resting on his stomach causing it to tighten as a warmth spread to his groin. He felt himself starting to harden and was worried but she was the one in control and she didn't seem to either notice or mind. After his coat came his sunglasses which he had forgotten he was even wearing. As she took them off everything seemed lighter and seemed to glow in the moonlight. Her hair was lighter and even though he knew she had a slight tan her skin seemed so pale, and her entire body looked so soft, he reached out to touch it but at the last moment moved his hand to again cup her face.

"Shino...don't worry. You can touch any part of me you want." He felt his face flush both at her words and at her actions as her hand grabbed his own and put it between her breast, and then made his fingers close over the zipper on her top.

"Are you sure?"

"It only seems fair, I took some of your cloths off."

"But I'm wearing more."

"We can take care of that." She put his hands to the side as she slid her own hands to his stomach and under his shirt sliding the fabric over taught pale skin. As her hands made her way up she leaned over letting her tongue slide between wet pink lips and kiss their way up his skin which was becoming flushed.

"Sa-sakura." She continued her ministrations as she pulled the shirt over his head and threw it next to the bed stopping her kisses just long enough to look down and make sure he was still ok. She was definitely enjoying herself, but if he told her to stop even once she would. She wanted to let him know he was loved, but she also didn't want to break him. But the look he was giving her was brimming with lust and only fueled the heat low in her stomach and made her insides tighten as she licked her lips and leaned down to twirl her tongue around a soft nipple feeling it hardened as he gasped. His hands came up around her back as she felt his nails dig into her shoulder blades as her ministrations continued. She shifted her weight feeling his pants tightening as his hardness pushed up. As she switched her attention to his other nipple gaining another grown she softly brushed her cloth covered crotch against his own and felt a ripple of pleasure go through her.

"Shino." The poor guy looked startled as he heard her all but mew his name. As he pulled himself together though he was more daring this time as he grabbed the zipped on her top on his own and pulled down letting the fabric fall to the sides revealing she had forgone her wrappings as she got dressed earlier, already planning for this moment. He looked unsure again for a moment but she let him take the lead at this point as his hands went to her shoulders to brush the fabric off, sliding down her arms showing pert and perky nipples on rounded soft flesh. As the shirt got to her elbows she shrugged it off to join his own clothing on the floor. His hands went from her shoulders down to her breast and let his hands slide over them rubbing his palms against her nipples.

All of this was new and even though he was worried he might do something wrong, it felt so right as his hands covered her breasts rolling the nipples between his fingers. She was so soft and hot, she was burning up under his hands as he rubbed her breasts enjoying the pleasured look on her face. But when she started grinding herself against his straining cloth covered erection he gripped her chest a bit tighter and groaned pushing himself up against her.

"Sakura," he moaned just above a whisper. "What are you doing to me?" She leaned closer kissing the spot right beside his ear causing a jolt of pleasure.

"Loving you," she whispered in his ear and leaned down to kiss along his neck leaving small love bites, some that would definitely leave a mark by tomorrow. Her words more then any of her erotic actions set his heart pounding against his rib cage and he leaned up with her on his lap to kiss her full, one of his hands in her hair the other on her waist. Even though he was less experienced then her he maneuvered them and laid her down on the bed sliding on top of her nudging her legs apart to lay between them as his mouth went to her neck reciprocating her earlier actions. There were a few times she hissed though he wasn't sure if it was in pain or pleasure and he always worried he was doing something wrong but at the same time every time he heard her moan it made his dick twitch in his pants.

He reached down and unlatched her medic skirt letting it fall off the bed. He leaned over letting his mouth drop down to plant kisses on her chest before his mouth closed over a tight nipple causing her to mew and try to grind against him in nothing but her tight black shorts. Her body was glistening with sweat and even as he suckled her nipple his other hand was roving her body, enjoying every muscle twitch and clench and felt his own lust straining in his pants. His one hand eventually landed on her waist and ran along the outside of her thigh down to her knee before making its way inside and up her thigh to pause right below the apex of her thighs. His lips left her breast to return to her neck planting gentle kisses there not sure if he could look her in the eyes as his hand made it's way between her legs and rubbed gaining a deep moan from her which seemed twice as loud as it was right in his ear. He was surprised when he felt how wet her slit was as he ran a hand over it a bit clumsily rubbing along her slit and taking cues from her moans. He got a particularly good reaction when he found a small nub at the top of her slit and she grabbed his arm holding it in place between her thighs and whispered his name in rapture. He wasn't sure how far she meant to go, she said she wanted to love him but...

"Sakura can I...?"

"Please Shino, I want you to." He felt his pulse quicken and his face go red. He wasn't sure if this was right or too fast or if he should wait, but his body was screaming at him to continue and Sakura seemed just as eager. So with that thought his hand left the area between her legs and his hands gripped the side of her shorts and slowly pulled them down seeing she had also foregone underwear earlier. As he inched the shorts over her hips a small patch of light pink curls became visible as well as her moist slit as he slid her shorts passed her knees to join the pile of cloths beside his bed.

He looked at the pink haired woman sprawled on his bed completely nude, flushed, panting, and wanting him and he couldn't help it as his heart fluttered.

"Sakura," he whispered as he kissed her on the lips and let his hands slide from her knees to her hips and one of his hands slid back between her legs to rub the now bare and moist slit gaining a groan from her as he rubbed and tweaked the small nub on top. His hand slowly slid down her slit probing until he found a small moist entrance and cautiously slide a finger in gaining a groan from her until he buried his finger in up to the knuckle. Her arms went around his neck holding him tightly to her as he slid it back out only to repeat the action feeling her body move along with it like a puppet on a string.

"Shino more, please," she groaned and he willingly complied as he inserted a second finger continuing the slow thrusting motions with his hand seeing the pleasured look on her face as she gasped and groaned and parts of his name would be muttered in there as well. She was exquisite.

"Shino I need more," she said and he paused and wasn't sure if he could do more then three fingers. But before he could ask her anything her hand went to grab the front of his pants and he gasped and hissed as she fondled his length. Before his mind could get over the stream of pleasure and form a coherent thought she had unzipped his pants and was manipulating his body to get him out of his pants and boxers leaving him just as bare as her and them both sitting up in his bed. He tried to cover himself up as she looked at him but she removed his hand and licked his fingers and he realized that was the hand he had used on her.

"I know I said I'm ok with this, but is this ok? Do you want me to stop?"

"This is seriously one hell of a time to bring that up," he said exasperated more then mad. "But yeah I do want to do this. Not because it's sex, but because it's with you." Her face became an even darker pink and she leaned forward to kiss him and he felt his hard length push against her firm stomach. Her hand slowly slid up his thigh to grab a hold of his cock and rub her hand the length of it making him gasp. She then leaned over and licked the tip of it with her tongue making him groan and see stars as his eyes slid shut in pleasure.

Even as she let her tongue slide over his hard length again she was amazed at the noises he was making. She'd be a bit more worried about the noise but from her chakra detection she could tell his bedroom was on the other side of the building compared to his parents. She slowly parted her lips taking the head into her mouth and swirling her tongue around it before sliding her mouth up bit by bit swallowing what she could letting her tongue swirl around him the whole time. When she felt it hit the back of her throat she moved it to the side to poke the side of her cheek as she continued her bobbing motion, his groans and pants driving her onward. She tasted more then felt the precum enter her mouth, slightly salty but didn't stop. Her one hand held on to the base to hold him steady as she continued and her other hand slid lower to cup his balls. She felt his hand thread in her hair and grip and tug it but not pull.

"Sakura you feel so good," he groaned his eyes closed tightly reveling in the pleasure. She could feel him tightening and knew if she didn't stop soon it was going to end. So with a pop she released him and sat back up licking her lips and wiping away the saliva from her chin. He immediately came forward and kissed her and she slid back on the bed with him on top. He pulled away to look down at her and if she thought he was cute when he was frazzled before, he was sinfully cute now as he grabbed a hold of his cock and slowly pushed it forward finding her opening and sliding it in to join them. She hissed as she felt him slowly filling her and she could feel him twitching inside of her as he made his way in and stopped once he was fully sheathed.

He was flushed and panting and she could feel him twitch every now and then and knew if she didn't let him take it slow it would be over a lot sooner then they wanted. He pulled back slowly and pushed his way back in just as slow reveling in the feel of her warmth moistness and feeling her body move beneath him. One of his hands was resting beside her head letting him gaze at her flushed face as her eyes scrunched shut with every move he made within her. Her pink locks sticking to her face from the sheen of sweat on her brow and her cheeks a sinful shade of red as she mewled below him. His eyes drifted lower to her breasts as they swayed with the rest of her body, her nipples still hard as he let one of his hands drift down to massage it, tweaking the nipple and then rolling it between his fingers, she responded by clamping down on him harder eliciting a moan from deep within. His eyes drifted back up and came to rest on her neck where a few of his kisses earlier had colored her skin with small marks, and he felt compelled to continue from earlier and leaned down to kiss along her jaw line going down to the nook whee her neck met her shoulder and lavished it. Her skin was salty with sweat and he could feel her heartbeat against his lips strong and fast, her moist breaths of air in his ear broken every now and then by a cry or moan.

Sakura felt like she was slowly being driven insane. She knew he was a virgin but with a little encouraging he was damn good at playing her body like it was an instrument. She was amazed with how hot he was making her, she didn't know how long she could hold on, his lips, hands, and hips were all rubbing against her,driving her insane. Her whole body was on fire and she felt herself coming close to the edge, her arms coming around him gripping his back, probably leaving a few scratches and welts but he didn't seem to mind.

"Shino, please, more!" He seemed a little surprised but pushed himself up on both arms and quickened the pace. She seemed to have trouble getting leverage as she tried to meet his thrusts, so he grabbed her right thigh and held onto it holding her in place as he quickened his pace, the lewd squeaking of the bed creaking mingling with their moans and cries made his head swim, he felt like he was in some kind of a porno. But he wasn't, this was Sakura below him moaning and saying his name like a mantra, and it wasn't any fantasy, it was real.

"Sakura," he all but growled causing her eyes to pop open and look up at him, meeting his eyes, normally warm, now filled with a fire that made her heart race and her body clench. She continued staring into his eyes even as she finally reached her peak and felt her body tighten and strain in pleasure, her back arch, and ecstasy roll over her, she couldn't break his gaze and watched him the whole time.

She was beautiful, it was like art in motion. Her body tightened to the point he couldn't move and he saw her muscles tighten all at once, her whole body seemed to flush, she moaned but it was so soft he almost didn't hear it, and her eyes seemed to darken to a jade color as she continued staring at him. He couldn't move as he watched her, even though his body cried for release, her own held him still for the moment letting him revel in the sight before him. It may have only been a moment, even a few seconds, but for him it seemed like time had stopped completely as he held her like this, and then, it was over. Her eyes closed breaking the spell as she seemed to go limp her head rolling to the left laying on her shoulder as she gave a shuddering breath as he felt her body release it's hold on him. His body screamed for him to continue but it was only a few more thrusts and then without even moving or looking at him, she undid him, with one word.

"Shino." It wasn't a passionate moan or cry or anything he had heard all night. It was just his name spoken so softly he almost didn't hear it, but he could feel it, what she was trying to tell him all night, right now, she was saying 'I love you.' And then he felt himself release, an intense rush of pleasure and relaxation gripping him, he released inside of her and gave a few more jerky thrusts as he felt himself go slack, his muscles unable to hold him up at all. He planted his hands on either side of her head to keep him from squishing her and it took a moment for his breathing to calm down when he noticed his right hand was laced with her left and she was looking up at him with this soft smile that made him wish the moment would never end. But as the minutes went by it became uncomfortable for him and probably for her so he slowly pulled himself out and settled next to her as she turned on her side to face him,

"Sorry, I think I may have taken this a little too far too fast," she said softly her eyes averted with a bashful look on her face.

"No, it's fine! I just wasn't expecting it." She looked at him still unsure.

"Really? I know I can be impatient."

"It's fine, really. I'm glad you came tonight." She looked at him and bit her lip before bursting into a fit of giggles and quickly covered her mouth trying to stifle it.

"Wha-?" It was then he realized his double entendre. "Jeez sorry I didn't mean, but I kind of am glad, but-"

"It's fine I know what you mean," she said finally getting her giggles under control. "And as much as I'd like to stay, I should probably go before someone notices I'm here. I've been trying to hide my chakra but I can't guarantee I had control the _whole_ time." Even though they were both naked after sex talking casually she still blushed when thinking about it. "And as much as your parents want us married if they find us in bed together we might wake up with a wedding prepared downstairs." He blanched at that thought.

"I have no doubt." She leaned over and kiss him softly letting her lips just glide over his, nothing heated just soft and sweet. And then she was pulling away and sitting up putting her cloths on bit by bit. Even though he had already seen her whole body naked he still enjoyed watching her pick up her cloths and redress. It was like he was seeing in a whole new light now, and his vision was filled with her. She finally finished getting dressed and turned to him again leaning over for a quick peck on the lips.

"Night, get some sleep."

"Night Sakura." She smiled, and then she was gone. She was right though he didn't feel her chakra as she made her way out of the compound. Though the bed did seem a lot bigger and colder without her here next to him. He ran his hands over the sheets where she had laid and then his hand felt something wet. 'I need to wash my sheets tomorrow. Oh well I needed to anyway.' And then his brain finally seemed to register something. 'Wait...we...we didn't use a condom!'

AN: Yeah this is what happens when a fluff bunny and a lemon bunny have a baby. I'm sorry if it was mostly fluff but next chapter will have more plot moving in it. I think this is why this chapter was so hard to write for me was because it was just fluff. Oh well thanks to anyone still following this.


	7. Too Close

AN: I'm sorry this took so long, I had most of it written by the end of Sept but then school started and I don't have a beta so I go through it like 3 or 4 times to make sure it's good. BUT THEN my laptop seriously randomly decided to die. I tried to restart in safe mode and like 12 error messages popped up ranging from corrupted files to explorer has stopped working. Thankfully I saved my files so I just had to get my computer fixed. There's a little plot movement but I wanted more Shino/Sakura time so I tried to get them back together. Thanks to everyone who keeps reading even with my horrible update schedules. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 7: Too Close

Shino was up way before dawns light even broke, his mind unable to let him rest. It was something so little but so big. He'd finally lost his virginity to a woman he was falling in love with...and he forgot to use protection. He should be enjoying this moment, someone loved him and he loved her back and last night...but his analytical mind wouldn't let him overlook something like this. It was something so small but such a detail was plaguing his mind and dreams and he tossed and turned all night. He had wanted to go to her last night and find her so she could put his mind at rest but he didn't know where she lived. And he doubted her parents would like it very much if he came asking them at 3 in the morning where their daughter lived. Not to mention he didn't want to draw attention to himself if anyone found him sneaking out of the compound this late at night while he was still supposed to be recovering.

So now he felt exhausted as he pulled himself out of bed finally around 8 unable to find rest. It being summer the sun was already making its way into the sky and the warmth made his exhaustion even more apparent as he wanted to take a nap. He pulled himself out of bed and pulled on some clean cloths, his mind feeling fuzzy and heavy. He grabbed his dirty laundry from yesterday and stopped for a second staring at his bed. His mind telling him there was something important but it took him a second to register it. Though there was no visible stains he felt his face flush just thinking about if his mother happened to find 'something.' Geez now he was starting to sound paranoid. He was 20 freaking years old and he was afraid of his mom finding out he had sex! Ugh! 'Well it's not like they're normal parents. There's no way anyone else has parents this eccentric.' He quickly pulled the sheets and blanket off and wrapped them up in a bundle and threw them in a laundry basket. He yawned as he scooted his door open and made his way downstairs towards the laundry room trying to be quiet. He had made it down the stairs and was standing outside the laundry room attached to the kitchen when he was caught.

"Shino." 'Shit!' He swore he jumped almost 3 feet in the air as he turned around to see his cousin standing in the door frame staring at him slightly confused.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you."

"Hisoka." He let out a sigh of relief and visibly sagged when he saw that it was just his cousin and not either of his parents. "Sorry you just startled me, mom and dad would still be asleep right now so I wasn't expecting anyone to be up." Hisoka seemed to notice something was off but Shino continued like it was nothing trying to pass off his nervousness.

"I came over early since I've been having a hard time getting a hold of you lately, seems like you're always busy." There might have been a bit of bite to his words as he remembered their last discussion that went like this.

"Hmmm, well I'm not really doing anything now, but I'm meeting up with Sakura later." He regretted saying anything as he saw his cousins face instantly sour, but he wasn't going to lie to him either.

"Really?" He paused turning to look away staring off into space. "I thought she was over last night." Shino could feel his heart skip a beat but kept his face calm and aloof. He knew his cousin was pissed and didn't know if he could convince him to not say anything to his parents.

"Last night? No we had lunch yesterday." He had never lied to his cousin before and he didn't know how much he actually knew about _last night_. For all he knew he could have sensed her come over or leave the compound.

"Really I could have swore I felt her chakra last night."

"No, not that I know of."

"Shino...you're lying." He felt his stomach bottom out. He was between a rock and a hard place. He could continue to lie and deny she was here and see if his cousin bought it. Or he could come clean and hope he didn't say anything, but he might also get pissed again. Really it was risky and if his cousin found out later he lied the trust they had would be shattered. He sighed.

"I'm sorry, I-I just didn't want anyone knowing. You know how mom and dad are, they'd immediately start talking to her parents about engagement." He said this jokingly, all the while he tried to read his cousin as he laid his cards on the table but his poker face didn't give away anything.

"Is that why you're doing the laundry this early?" His cousins voice was fairly composed but he heard a tremor of anger in it and was worried this was going to go to hell very quickly. He knew then with the evidence in his hands and the fact he knew she was here last night his cousin _definitely_ knew.

"Please don't make a big deal about this. It's not like it was planned." In an instant his cousin went from across the room to in front of him and was so close he could see how dilated his pupils were. It made him flinch and for once in his life he was afraid of his cousin.

"No big deal! Shino open your eyes, she's using you!"

"No she's not!"

"Why else would she date you!" The silence was more deafening then the shouting and they stared at each other both angry and hurt neither willing to break the silence. The words cut Hisoka just as deep as they did Shino, the unspoken, 'Why would anyone date us,' hanging between them. Shino was about to speak up when they heard a door open upstairs, it was enough to break their locked eyes and in an instant his cousin was out the door. He wanted to go after him but he couldn't find the words.

"Hisoka!"

"Shino, what's going on? Why are you doing laundry this early" He took one last look at the empty door frame before sighing and turning back to his mother.

Sakura groaned as she pulled her shirt over her head and ran a hand through her hair to try and weed out the tangles. She was still sore and tired from the night before and would have liked another hour or two of sleep but she had to see Tsunade for her check up. 'And then train with Shino.' The beetle on her shoulder crawled along her back between her shoulder blades giving her goosebumps. 'I wonder where she was last night. You know what, thinking about it, I don't want to know.' She had more important things on her mind last night then where her little hitchhiker went.

She finally found her actual brush under a messenger bag and ran it through her short locks a few times getting rid of the tangles and looking herself over in the mirror once again. She couldn't keep the smile off her face as she thought back to the night before and Shino. It was impulsive, and stupid, and reckless, and she didn't regret it at all! It might have been a bit soon but she knew that it would go that way eventually, so it was fine! And they were ninja, they had to live in the moment, and she hoped that she could repeat those kinds of moments with him again!

She just wondered if he'd act differently around her now, it might be kind of cute to see him blush and stutter like Hinata. She giggled at the mental image of him stuttering and pointing his fingers. She closed the door behind her and locked it with a seal enjoying the warm weather. It wasn't that late yet but she could tell it was going to be hot today. She began walking towards the tower when she saw him.

He was wearing sunglasses and a coat that covered a good amount of his body and he was waving her over to the side of the street. 'He must be an Aburame, but why would he want to talk to me?' If it was one of Shino's parents she could understand, she was sure if she ever turned her back on them they'd kidnap her back to the compound and formally adopt her. But she didn't even know this member of his clan, never the less she didn't want to seem rude and walked over to meet him. As he saw her approach he went around the corner and as she went to follow her mind was assaulted with warning signs and she moved just in time to have his fist hit the concrete next to her head. 'Who the hell!' She was immediately alert and poised to attack but he didn't continue.

"So you're _her."_

"I don't know who the hell you think I am, but you have no reason-"

"I have every reason!" She instinctively tried to back up but felt her back hit the wall. If she was anywhere but in the middle of Konoha right now she'd be worried and on the offensive already, but he wouldn't try anything here in the middle of town. 'At least I hope not.' She felt a cold sweat on her back

"Shino!" She looked visibly startled then offended.

"Shino? I haven't done anything to Shino!"

"That's a lie! You're using him!" Her face was red with anger and she was trying to figure out just what the hell this guy was talking about.

"Using him? For what!"

"He's a clan head and you're just a kunoichi from civilian parents." _That_ hit a nerve, she had a bit of a problem with all of her teammates being talented or special because of their families or bloodlines or _other_ problems but everyone saw her as nothing special because she was _normal._ Whatever that meant.

"I am a kunoichi," she all but growled. "I am apprentice to the hokage." She took a step forward and he moved his hand away from the wall to take a step back as he felt anger radiating off her like chakra. "I am an accomplished medic-nin, and a damn good shinobi." She was satisfied to see the tables had turned and she now had him on the run as he backed up to the opposite wall in the alleyway and he seemed ready to flee. "And _none_ of that has anything to do with me having a clan or not. I don't give a damn if he's next head of his clan or if he was a damn civilian, that has nothing to do with us!"

"Sakura." She turned suddenly towards the opening of the alley to see Kakashi standing there, orange book in hand, staring at her lazily before his one visible eye narrowed at the place next to her. She looked back only to find the mysterious nin gone. 'Though it's not like I don't know where he's from. But who the hell was he and why was he giving me a hard time about Shino?'

"Aren't you going to see Tsunade-sama today to see if you're fully recovered?"

"Arn't you avoiding her because you just got back from a mission and don't have your mission report done yet?"

"Touche." And just like that he looked back to his little porn book and walked away.

"That wasn't weird at all," she said aloud before sighing and continuing on her way. 'That's still really bothering me, what that guy said. I am not using him, and I don't care if he's in a clan or not! Should I bring it up to Shino? Or would that just cause problems with his family?' There were so many things bouncing around her head she almost walked straight into the door leading to the hokage's office.

"Oh I'm here already."

"Rough morning Sakura?" She looked to her left to see Tsunade's other apprentice Shizune. The young woman was not a morning person but you would never know it the way she held herself cheerfully in the morning, well unless it had to do with Tsunade.

"Not rough, just...odd."

"Ah, well I don't know if that's better or worse."

"Ah by the way, thanks for the talk yesterday."

"Hmm? I guess I'm glad I could help but don't go spreading it around ok? Rumors can be tricky." That struck a cord and she wondered if rumors might be the reason for the confrontation this morning.

"Don't worry I didn't hear it from you."

"Hear what from her?" They both turned their heads to see Tsunade at the now opened doorway saying goodbye to what looked like a young genin team and their sensei.

"Nothing." They both quickly replied getting a snicker from a few of the genin as they passed by, feeling like kids themselves for getting caught talking about rumors. Tsunade gave them a look that clearly stated she thought they were kids before closing her eyes and sighing.

"Sakura."

"Yes!" She stood at attention as the woman turned and walked into the office.

"Inside." Sakura followed quickly not wanting to anger her shishou so early in the morning. She already knew what to do and and took a seat in front of the desk as the woman dragged another chair over and sat in front of her. Sakura closed her eyes as her shishou's hands came over her temples and she felt chakra flood her system. It was like a breath of fresh air and she realized her chakra reserves were still lower then they should be. She could feel the cool chakra probing her system from one end to the other and if she wanted to she knew Tsunade could do it so she wouldn't even notice but there was no reason to hide it. She trusted this woman with her life. Though as the minutes dragged on she became worried, normally the exam would be over by now. It was another few seconds before she felt the chakra slowly dissipate and she opened her eyes to see Tsunade go around her desk and open a file to jot a few notes down.

"Shishou?"

"You're reserves are low but nothing serious. You could probably get them back up in a week even with training."

"So?" She tried to sound calm but she knew she couldn't keep the hope out of her question.

"So no more rest. But-" She continued as she saw Sakura about to celebrate. "No missions until it gets back to normal or you'll just put yourself back in the hospital and back in the state you were before."

"But I can train right?"

"Yes but don't overdo it, if you feel yourself starting to fatigue call it a day."

"Thank you shishou!" She got up and was about to leave when she was stopped.

"Sakura, have you personally done anything to your chakra system? Anything that would put a drain on it?"

"A drain?" She felt a twitch on her back and realized what it might have been Tsunade was talking about. 'Shino said it wouldn't be much of a strain, but Tsunade-sama is also very thorough with her exams she might of felt something that small being off in me. But I can't tell her that!' It took everything in her not to blush thinking of trying to explain that one!

"Sorry Shishou I don't know anything I might have done. Might be some jutsu I had in affect and it continued even though my supply was low." She tried to keep herself calm and thoughtful like she was searching for an answer that was just out of reach.

"Maybe," she said though it seemed she didn't really buy that explanation. "But be careful and keep an eye on it. Also if you're using a jutsu that strains your chakra make sure to make some kind of note about it somewhere so you don't forget. If you ever lost control or the seal was changed then there could be consequences."

"Yes, thank you shishou," she said with a bow and quickly left the office. She quickly shook off the feeling of embarrassment at her shishou almost finding out about her hitchhiker and was instead ecstatic to be allowed to use her chakra again. 'And she said another week if I don't go overboard and I'll be back to missions and the hospital again!' Her stomach took that exact moment to growl and remind her, 'And I have lunch with Shino.' But then her stomach did a flip flop when she remembered the stranger from this morning. She still wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do about that yet, she could tell Shino or she could just keep it to herself. 'It's not like I want to be a tattle tail or something. I mean I can take care of myself. Hmmm... but I also shouldn't keep things from him. Oh well I'll deal with it when I find him.' And with that she went about trying to find him, which was coincidental since he was trying to find her.

After an odd conversation with his mother this morning getting her to believe he had a nightmare and cold sweats that got his sheets dirty so he would have to wash them he had went looking for Sakura. It was really hard but he was also worried about what his cousin was going to do. He'd never seen him that mad before, well not at him, the last time he'd been that mad was when that girl Kimi had turned him down. That was a bad day for everyone. So as soon as his sheets were in the wash he had tried tracking down his cousin but to no avail. He didn't think he would hurt Sakura, at least not physically, but he did have a temper when something got to him.

So now he was instead looking for Sakura since it was almost lunchtime. It didn't take him long before he saw a shock of pink hair walking down the road away from him. He came up quickly calling out to her, it was never good to sneak up on a ninja.

"Sakura." She looked around for a second before spotting him and turning around waving.

"Shino." He finished walking up to her and took a deep breath feeling some kind of relief since she had left last night. He felt his heart flip flop and his face heat up as he looked at her. She was wearing her normal medic uniform, he hair was normal and she didn't seem to be wearing makeup. But when he looked at her images of her last night popped into his head and he felt his mouth dry like a desert.

"Sakura." Now he wasn't sure what to ask about first, and he stood there speechless.

"Shino, is something wrong?" Her bright green eyes looked up at his and he finally found some moisture in his mouth to respond.

"Ah no, I was just wondering how your meeting with Tsunade went."

"Ah well I'm definitely taking you up on that sparring match later! She said it would still take a week but I should be back to shape in no time." She seemed so enthusiastic he swore it was contagious.

"That's great, so where did you want to eat?"

"Hmm, I don't have anywhere in particular in mind. Do you?" He was still trying to figure out how to ask his other two questions which were kind of personal so...

"How about we eat in? Like at your place?" This seemed to catch her of guard but she nodded anyway.

"Ah sure I guess, did you have anything in mind?"

"I don't care. I can help cook too."

"Offering to help cook? That's a offer I'd take anyway! But my place is probably a mess, just to warn you."

"I don't mind, it can't be as bad as Kiba's place." She had to giggle at that and turned to lead the way taking his hand in her own. She saw the light pink dust his cheeks once again but he then timidly laced his fingers with hers.

They quickly made their way to her place with idle chatter though in the back of his mind Shino was still trying to look for clues as to her being upset or hinting at any unusual meetings this morning. He didn't want to bring it up that his jealous cousin might be trying to track her down if he hadn't already, but he also needed to tell her. And forget trying to figure out how to bring up the other topic! Once they got back to her place she shut all the shades and made him take off his shades and coat. He didn't even have to ask, she just automatically did it for him, and it felt a little odd but welcoming to be able to walk around without his 'armor' for a while. It wasn't until they were back at her place and boiling some stew that he finally got up the nerve to ask.

"Ah Sakura, I hate to ask this but I do need to know. Did you have a meeting with someone today?"

"A meeting? You mean someone other then Tsunade-sama?" For some reason he thought her voice dropped it's happy tone and she went about stirring the pot without meeting his gaze. He felt his heart sink and already had the answer to his question.

"So you did meet Hisoka," he said with a sigh. Her silence confirmed her meeting with the now named man.

"Who is he?" While not cold her tone was very blank.

"He's my cousin. Listen I'm sorry if he said anything rude to you. He came over this morning to hang out and he somehow guessed you were over last night and I was washing the sheets and..." She was trying really hard not to giggle. He was doing good until he started talking about his cousin finding out they had sex and then his face had slowly started turning red even though he continued talking like it wasn't a problem.

"Sorry I did leave rather quickly didn't I?"

"I-it's fine, I didn't mind. I mean we were seeing each other again today. But the problem is my cousin thinks you have ulterior motives-"

"Yeah I gathered as much from our _conversation," _she said cutting him off with a hiss in her voice, also dropping the ladel and turning to face him. She was angry, but he knew it wasn't directed at him,

"I'm sorry. He's just had very bad luck with women, especially those who treated him bad or used him and he's like a big brother to me so he's kind of protective."

"That doesn't mean he can go around yelling at and accusing people of things they didn't do!" She felt bad for yelling when she saw his eyes look down sadly, and she took a deep breath to calm herself. It wasn't his fault his cousin was an ass anymore then it was her fault Naruto could be a perv.

"I'm sorry, I know that it's not the same since it's not from him, but I'll talk to him and get him to apologize to you."

"No, if he doesn't want to do it on his own then I don't want it."

"But-"

"No if it's not sincere then I don't want it." The anger in her voice was gone but it was still firm. She was insistent that he apologize on her terms. He really couldn't argue anything against that, she was a straight forward person and she wouldn't have it any other way. She turned back and stirred the pot a few more times before turning off the stovetop.

"Stews about done, can you get me some bowls from that cupboard to your right." He turned and pulled a couple of bowls down and handed them to her as she ladled some out in each and pulled two spoons out of a drawer. He met her at the small kitchen table with bread they bought on the way back to her place. He could tell she was still a bit mad, so he leaned over and held her hand.

"Lunch looks good, thank you." Her smile that had been vacant since he brought up his cousin. It had come back weakly, but it was there.

"No problem, I'm good at turning left overs into something else. Heck that's most of my meals is left over take out turned into something new. And you had a hand in it too."

"My mom tried to save a little extra for me, but I get home whenever I can so I usually have to microwave it."

"Well at least we have microwaves, think back about 50 years before they had that."

It was a pleasant lunch with both of them having seconds and Shino slowly coaxing a better mood out of her, his cousin forgotten for the time being. After lunch he was helping her with the dishes when he looked over at her neck and saw a peak of dark red, probably from last night. She seemed to feel his eyes on her and turned to look at him and got caught in his eyes that seemed to be looking through her. Her hands still wet from the dishes came to rest on his shoulders as she tilted her head and his eyes slowly lowered til their lips met. It was soft and gentle, just the lightest brush of soft skin on skin and a small taste of the stew and something else that was definitely him she tasted. His arms instinctively went around her waist and held her to him, their noses brushing and bumping as their lips played over each other, a warmth in her stomach as his body warmth seemed to seep into her. It might have been only a minute or ten before they slowly pulled away, eyes still half lidded and breathing a little harder. Her hands were still on his shoulders and his still on her waist and they just held each other for a minute before she finally pulled back a bit.

"I should get ready if we're going to go train." As she started to pull away he held her a bit longer, his face turning a little red.

"Shino?"

"Ano, Sakura there was something else I wanted to ask you." She felt herself blush as well wondering just what he might ask. 'Could he be wanting to _again_ already?'

"Hmm?" She thought he was so cute she wanted to kiss him again but held back since it seemed like it was hard for him to say.

"About last night...I umm noticed after you left that well..."

"Shino you can ask me anything, don't be embarrassed."

"Sakura, we didn't use protection," he said looking off to the side. The moment of silence that passed between them was enough that a cricket chirp would have been acceptable. She couldn't help the small giggle that escaped her. "Sakura!" He seemed kind of upset/embarrassed that she was laughing at him about something he thought was important enough to keep him up all night.

"Sorry it's just been a long time since I thought about something like that, don't worry I got it covered." His face still red though she didn't know if it was embarrassment or anger.

"You do?" He seemed a bit relieved but still curious.

"Yeah, I _am_ a medic-nin. They have all kinds of medical jutsu including one for birth control."

"But you're chakra was depleted last week," he pointed out.

"It should be fine, it takes more chakra to make a clone then it does for that justu, the only thing is you have to have really good control which makes it difficult."

"So we're fine?"

"Yeah don't worry about it."

"Thank god," he said and visibly sagged with relief.

"Geez have you been worrying about this since last night?"

"Yeah kind of, I noticed right after you left and I was worried about you." She couldn't help it, it was way too sweet.

"Come on I'm not some silly little girl, I know what I'm doing." She leaned up and gave him another quick kiss. "Now come on, I want to get to a training field and finally get a decent workout! It's been way too long!" He was glad she was a lot more chipper and put his mind at ease. It was easy to get swept up in her good mood and sweet smiles, he couldn't help but feel like he was way too lucky.

AN: I can's always leave on a cliffy! ; )


	8. Working out the Kinks

AN: Look I'm back from the dead! Really though I am sorry for taking so long to update. For those who don't know I work 2 part time jobs, go to school full time, and work artist alley at least once a month at various anime cons in the upper east of the U.S. Not saying these are good excuses but sometimes life gets in the way of what you really want to do, like write! Anyway I hope I won't go so long without updating again and that you enjoy.

Chapter 8: "Working out all the kinks"

'How did it turn out like this?,' Sakura thought miserably as the noise around her continued to escalate. 'I guess it's my own fault for kind of keeping it secret but why did it have to end up like this?' The situation she was currently was no ones fault but her own. She and Shino were on their way to the training fields and Sakra took his hand in her own, it made him blush in that cute way of his, and everything had been fine...until her team showed up...along with his team. Naruto had all but demanded to know what the hell was going on, then Kiba was bitching about her 'bewitching' his teammate, then Sai had to put in a comment that apparently Shino 'actually had a dick to use on her,' this comment of course being directed to Naruto. Who then jumped to the conclusion that they had sex, and while it was true she really didn't want anyone else barging into her sex life. It was now at the point that everyone was yelling at everyone else and she was sure if she didn't do something a brawl was going to break out, so she did. She went up and hit the biggest loudmouth, aka Naruto, on the head.

"Sa-sakura-chan!"

"Shut up! Naruto not that it's any of your business but Shino and I are dating. No Kiba I did not fucking do anything to him," she said quickly cutting the dog boy off before he could say anything. "No genjustu, no magic, we mutually like each other and decided to date. Our personal business is no ones business but our own," she all but yelled out. "And Sai," she said her tone becoming more normal as she came over to him and slung an arm around his shoulder almost buddy buddy like. "What did I tell you about your dick comments?" He seriously seemed to think for a second as it seemed he felt the impending danger ahead.

"No one wants to hear them and I should keep them to myself."

"So why did you decide to bring it up this time?"

"I thought it was a compliment."

"Sai I don't give a damn if it's the best compliment in the world," at this poor Shino had the decency to blush. "No one wants to hear your comments about dicks."

"Ah I will remember that for future reference," he said trying to wiggle out of her grasp before she decided to pop his head like a grape. She let him out of her grasp but not without a chakra enhanced flick to the head. Not enough to seriously hurt him but there would be a small bruise in the middle of his forehead. Kiba looked like he was about to say something again but this time it was actually Shino who spoke up.

"Do you all really have that big of a problem with who we date?" There was a little more growl behind his voice then even he realized. "I know you're our teammates, no our friends, but do you really think you should be telling us who we can date?" Sakura felt her face heat up and her heart pound a little harder. 'Sh-shino. Wow I didn't know he could be kind of cool.'

"Sorry Shino," Hinata spoke up breaking the silence. "You're right and I'm sorry if we caused you a lot of trouble, right Kiba?" Kiba now feeling kind of embarrassed after being chastised by his friend nodded in agreement.

"You're right, we should be going anyway we were heading to Ichiraku's for lunch," said Sai picking up on the hint the others were giving him, and understanding it for once.

"Ah sure, sorry Sakura-chan," Naruto said though he seemed a bit down. 'There's no way he still has that crush on me from when we were gennin right,' Sakura thought to herself, but figured she'd just have to talk to him about it later. And then it was just the two of then again, though they were alone now Shino still seemed a bit grumpy.

"Sorry about my teammates they can be kind of overbearing at times." He didn't answer right away and she was afraid he might really be mad. She slid up next to him and slid her hand back into his and felt him grip hers lightly before intertwining their fingers.

"No it's not your fault. My teammates were just as bad. I don't know why but that mad me so mad. People getting mad at us for dating," he said squeezing her hand.

"I don't think it's that we're dating, I think it's because we didn't tell them anything and it came out of the blue. I mean we weren't all that close before and then all of a sudden we're hanging out and then dating in less than two weeks. Maybe it's just a shock, hell it's not like I've dated all that much."

"Still." She silenced him with a finger to his lips.

"Shh, don't let it get to you. We set them straight and we have the whole afternoon to train together, don't let them ruin our time together." She was able to coax a smile out of him and they once again went hand in hand down to the training fields. Sometimes they'd feel eyes on them, some just curious, others outright gawking, but they could look all they wanted. As shy and reserved as Shino usually was, the way he got mad and was defending them before, her heart was still fluttering. It seemed like only a minute but they were at the training grounds all too soon.

"So what exactly are you wanting to do? Just some katas, taijutsu, what?"

"Hmm well I need to work with my chakra, I haven't been able to use it for a while, how about a spar? Nothing too intensive, no jutsu over C rank?"

"Hmm nothing over C rank?"

"What has it been so long you've forgotten anything that basic," she said teasing.

"No I just never think about the ranks so I have to try and figure out which ones are off limits."

"Seriously you never limit yourself," she said a little disbelieving. 'I ind of feel bad for his teammates.' "I got an idea to make it interesting," she said mischievously.

"Interesting?"

"If I win the spar, you stay the night over my house tonight and do _whatever_ I want. If you win I do something you want."

"Like what would you do if I won?"

"_Whatever_ you want," she said grinning. "So what do you say?" She damn near felt her heart stick in her throat at the devious smirk he gave her while holding his chin in contemplation.

"I think I might have a thing or two in mind." She felt a heat light low in her stomach and knew her face was probably a bit pink.

"Only if you win, I might be a little below par but that doesn't mean you can underestimate me."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he said. She walked a few paces away from him and turned stretching her arms out. They stood there staring at each other for a minute, both grinning like idiots, waiting for the soundless signal. It came in the form of a rustle of grass from a slight breeze, and they both disappeared.

Sakura immediately weaved an elaborate genjutsu, taking a spot in a tree about three yards away from the training grounds and watching for any sign of him. She saw him reappear in the far treeline making a beeline for the middle of the field and was instantly caught up in her genjutsu. 'That was way too easy,' she thought instantly and made herself a clone to go out and finish him. Just a hit to a certain part of the back of the head and he'd be out, the clone went up effortlessly as he was deep into her genjutsu and hit him, only for him to turn into a puff of smoke.

'A clone! I knew it wouldn't be that easy!' In the next instant her own clone was dodging kunai from her left, only to almost run into shurinken to her right, making her clone pull off an insane evasive maneuver that left her flat on her back in the field. The second she realized he had used a clone she left the tree she was positioned in and moved a few trees to her left and slid down to the roots to take a better vantage point. She looked up just in time to see a large beetle, the size of a large dog, break through the ground and jump on her clone, which gave her a great idea. In and instant she switched herself with her clone to be caught under the massive beetle. She fought with it for a minute before she saw him land a few yards away from her.

"Sakura even for you this seems a bit too easy. Then again clones are never as good as a real person," he said and threw a kunai straight at her. Thankfully the justu she wanted to do she could form the signs one handed, and when the kunai hit her arm, and it did hurt like a bitch, all he saw was a puff of smoke that would normally happen when a clone disperses and he began looking around waiting for her to expose herself. A moment later her clone threw a few kunai at him making him dodge as she jumped from the forest and kicked the ground using her chakra to break the ground up before he could land giving him a hard landing. He steady himself but she was already on him, fists swinging. He did everything he could do dodge her fists as he knew they would be his downfall if she even got one hit on him.

In the meantime she finally overpowered the large beetle and he was so concentrated on her clone. As he went in for the killing blow on the clone, she put one chakra charged finger at the back of his neck, and he went down like a sac of potatoes, and poofed out of existence. 'Shit! Another clone!' She looked around her feeling for his chakra but she didn't feel anything. Then she felt something, a small buzzing against her body, just above her shoulder blade, she jumped out of instinct and barely avoided his fist to the back of her knee cap as he popped up from the ground. 'I think my beetle just saved my ass,' she thought but quickly put it to the back of her mind as she and Shino faced off again in the small clearing.

He came at her mostly using tai-jutsu, or at least that was what she thought, but with his last punch she felt an odd tingling in her arm she used to block with. She put a bit of distance between them and assessed her arm and came to the realization that apparently all he had to do was make contact with her for his bugs to draw out some of her chakra, and with her reserves already being low to begin with...'Sneaky.' She knew if she let him drag out the fight much longer then he was going to win by default because she was going to have nothing left. She had to outsmart him and quick, and she saw an opportunity.

He placed another kick at her side and she blocked with her arm, allowing his bugs to sap a bit more of her chakra. She pulled back her first to attack with some of her chakra, which she knew wasn't there, but when he easily caught her arm she acted surprised she like didn't know what was going on. He held her fist in his hand and swept her legs out from under her with his own. She fell to the ground with him on top of her. She attempted to swing her weight on the way down to flip them over, but he used his momentum to flip them again with him coming out on top. He held her down, pinned to the ground and she saw from under his collar that smirk that made her stomach flip-flop. She stopped struggling and he let go of her fist, he had all but assumed he'd won, that is until he saw the smirk on her face and her mouth the words 'sorry.' He never even felt the chakra in the clone she had come up behind him, the one he'd forgotten about. And it only took a minute amount of chakra for her clone to his the base of his neck and have him slump over unconscious.

He woke up feeling rather warm and comfortable and it took him a minute to remember it wasn't morning and he wasn't in his bed. He cracked his eyes opened and was surprised at the brightness. His glasses had been removed, but thankfully, he was in the shade of a tree. He groaned and felt someone run their hand across his face. He looked straight up into bright green eyes.

"Sakura." He tried to move but she shook her head and placed a hand on his head to keep him down.

"I used some chakra to make sure you wouldn't wake up with a headache but you should probably lay down another 10 minutes or so to make sure you don't get dizzy." He sighed a bit sadly.

"You won." She couldn't help the smile on her face.

"It's not like it's a bad thing. And if you really had something in mind you wanted to do I might still consider it," she said jokingly.

"Hmmm maybe."

"Oh come on you're not going to tell me?"

"Nope," he teased.

"Baka," she pouted, but there was no bite behind it as she ran her hands through his hair. He finally figured out the soft warmth under his head was her lap.

"You stole my glasses."

"They're not stolen, they're being borrowed, and you can get them back when you can walk again." They sat in silence a few more minutes, him enjoying of the feeling of her hands running through her hair, the only other person who'd ever done that to him with his mother when he was a child.

"Ne Sakura?" She hmmed in response. "How did you detect me when I was attacking from the ground? No one's ever been able to detect me when I use my bugs to hide my chakra."

"Ah that's probably why."

"Huh?"

"Right before you went to attack I felt _her_ buzz on my shoulder, and I figured it was a warning. Can they do that? Can the beetles in your family detect someone else's beetles?" He stayed silent for a moment, like he was contemplating something. "Shino?" He sighed almost as if in defeat.

"You know you know way more about my clan then anyone else in the village right now, only the hokage knows more about us." She realized a bit belatedly she was inadvertently asking about clan secrets.

"Ah I'm sorry! Really I wasn't thinking, don't worry about it."

"That's the thing though, I don't. I know no matter what happens I don't think I ever have to worry about you blabbing about my families secrets. I'm really glad I have you in my life." Her cheeks turned a darker pink but she smiled none the less. "So yes they can detect other beetles, but some more thoroughly trained ones can also detect other clans bugs if they use them like us."

"Other clans? I've heard of one or two others but are there that many?" She couldn't help it, the whole reason she was so well adapted for the medical field was her constant curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

"As far as we know, there are seven other clans in the world acknowledged as having a bloodline ability linked to bugs. Though only 3 of them are linked like we are at birth with their bugs. Of those three two are in stone and one is in lightning. Actually you kind of saved me from them in a way."

"Saved you?"

"Mmmm. You see, we have an alliance with lightning right now, but a good way to solidify it and also to gain clan strength for both our clans would be a merger."

"A merger? You mean a wedding?"

"Yeah, there's supposed to be a meeting to discuss it in a little less then two weeks. They have more daughters then sons so they were going to bring their most likely candidates, I think there were two, and we're supposed to bring out most likely candidates. Which before were two, my cousin and I, but now..."

"You're parents will let you off the hook just because we're dating?" She was actually really shocked.

"What do you mean just because?"

"Well come on you know what I'm saying, it's clan politics. If it was Hinata's father it wouldn't matter if she was dating Naruto or not, I think he would really put her up as an option if it meant a clan merger. Then again that guy is such a purist I don't know if he'd even be up for merging different blood lines. But you see my point right?"

"I'm kind of surprised," he said a bit sadly. "I understand my family is a clan but you've met them all and should know them by now. We're a bit more laid back and while it would strengthen clans and relationships with countries, my family lives for themselves. If I would be happier with you, even if we're not even engaged, then my family wouldn't interfere with that." Sakura felt chastised and a bit remorseful. He was right, his family had never given any impression of being like any of the other clans. They weren't power hungry, and they didn't try and use their name to push people around. They wanted happiness for their family and to grow as a family.

"I'm sorry Shino you're right I should know better by now. I'm just so used to helping shishou sort out other clan politics I guess that's how I view any kind of clan politics. But then if you're not a candidate, who is the one left?" Shino sighed looking a bit worried.

"My cousin, Hisoka." Now Sakura knew why he seemed a bit down, that guy liked the thought of trusting women like he would like the thought of walking into a cloud of insecticide.

"Jeez, I'm sorry. But you have no other cousins?"

"None of either marriageable age or child bearing ability. The only single women we have are too young or too old to bear children so the marriage would be moot if we're trying to combine blood lines. But maybe it won't be so bad, a couple of weeks ago we were talking and he said he didn't mind the thought of an arranged marriage, it meant that they could grow to love each other."

"Hmmm I guess. I like the thought of choosing the person you love, but I've heard of a few clan heads who grew to love each other a lot. And usually both sides have to agree on the marriage so if they really don't get along they could always say no."

"Yeah, though the other clan for some reason seems desperate, I wonder if they're starting to have the same fertility problems we are?"

"That would be something, I wish I knew, it would be interesting to study and see if we could figure that out. I wonder if you're the only clan having the problem. A lot of the other clans don't seem to have a problem having children, at least the way the hyugas keep having to expand their compound is any measure. But even if you're not a candidate don't you still have to attend the meeting since you're the next heir of the clan."

"Normally I would but I volunteered to watch Kimiko."

"You're little cousin right?"

"Yeah, my parents weren't all that happy about it. They really do want me there, technically the whole clan is supposed to be there but since she'd only 4 they thought she might a be a bother to the proceedings." Sakura brushed a bit of hair out of his face gently before speaking up again.

"Why don't I do it?"  
"Huh?" The look of shock on his face showed he wasn't expecting her to volunteer. "But why?"

"Well you need someone you can trust to take care of her right? So that way you're whole clan can attend the meeting? I think you're family trusts me, and I've done a couple of babysitting missions back when I was a genin, I think I'll be ok."

"But you've never even met her."

"Well if you want I can come over and visit with her a day or two before. I think it would be fun." She saw the look of deep contemplation on his face and wondered if she'd done something wrong.

"Shino?"

"It would be great if you can help us out, I think I just have to talk to her parents first. Do you think sometime next week you could come by the compound and meet her and her parents? I just think they need to meet you first before they let you babysit is all. Like I told you before it was hard enough for my cousin to have Kimiko, so she's really overprotective."

"That's fine, I don't mind. I like helping your family out, they're really welcoming." Then she thought back to his cousin. "Well most of them. Anyway think you wanna give standing a try?" He nodded but before he got up she leaned over and gave him a soft kiss on the lips, it was kind of odd considering she was kissing him upside down but he enjoyed it none the less. He opened his eyes and found the sky slightly darker.

"Sneaky," he saw and she giggled, she'd slipped his sunglasses on without him noticing.

"Ninja," she corrected and gave him a hand up, he was a bit unsteady for a step or two but he gained his balance back quickly. "By the way," she said with a mischievous grin on her face that held hidden promises. "You lost." His legs once again became unsteady but for a whole different reason.

AN: Sorry again for the long delay but hope you enjoyed! BTW next chapter is going to be a bit more lemon and fluff, there is plot I'm just having fun taking my time getting there. Also as a note, because the Shino/Saku community is kind of small and the fics with lemon are a bit few and far between I'm going to have a couple more lemons in this fic. If you're not a hug fan I will try and put a space between the beginning and ends of the lemon so you can skip if you want. Thanks again to all the wonderful people who reviewed!


	9. Afternoon Delight

AN: Sorry to everyone who has been patiently waiting. I am sorry it took me so long but I graduated and moved back in June then I had a 120 hour unpaid externship I finished in 2 weeks by doing 12 hour days, then in August on top of it being my birthday and my fiance's birthday we sold in artist alley at the biggest con we've ever been to (Gencon!). So I know excuses don't help but I kept trying to write this in between big events but it didn't work.

**NOTE: **BTW anyone who is not into lemon might just wanna skip this chpater, I hate to say it this way but it's true. I have not one but two lemons and some fluff in here but NOTHING actual plot wise. Sorry but this is 99% smut/fluff; but have you ever tried to find any sakura/shino lemon? There isn't even a full page on . But I promise after this lots of plot and I only plan on one more lemon for the rest of the fic after this so I hope you can forgive me.

Chapter 9: Afternoon Delight

Sakura kind of felt bad for teasing Shino so much earlier. Yes she won, and yes he was staying that night at her house, but he sent a clone home to let his parents know he wouldn't be home tonight, the memories he received from that clone from his parents had him almost falling over in embarrassment. He seemed really nervous and shy still, even though they had made love the other night, she knew it was his first time and he seemed afraid she was going to jump him. So she decided even though she wanted to spend a lot of time with him and _wanted_ to sleep with him she would contain herself. Though she did include a loophole where if he was the one to come on to her there was nothing to hold her back. So now they made it to her place and she opened the door for him.

"Ah thanks," he mumbled and made his way past her and took off his shoes.

"I don't know about you but I am starving! Anything in particular you want to eat?" She went to the fridge and rummaged around looking at everything she had available. She had a few veggies here and there, some rice.

"We could do some kind of stir fry," came his voice from right behind her, his breath tickling the hair on the back of her neck and she almost jumped but held herself in check.

"I don't know what kind of meat I might have," she said and looked in her freezer and frowned seeing a couple frozen pizzas, a thing of half eaten ice cream...

"Ah-ha," she said grabbing a plastic bag from the frozen abyss. "I have," she said wiping some of the frost off it. "Some pork."

"Sounds like a plan," he said still right behind her. She turned around facing him and he didn't move, staying in her personal bubble. 'Must not molest...' Instead she opted for leaning forward and softly pressing her lips against his, her eyes closing just enjoying the feel of his warm lips on hers. She felt her heart fluttering in her chest and felt warmth on her face that let her know she was blushing. She slowly pulled away inhaling deeply and tried not to giggle at the hazy look on his face. He didn't step back and was looking at her like he wanted to say something, when instead his stomach decided to make itself known with a growl. This time she did giggle even as he turned his now red face away in embarrassment.

"Come on food first, and then we have all night to hang out together," she said trying not to suggest anything more then spending time together. They worked together making the stir fry from scratch, not a completely alien thing for her but it had been a while. It ended up tasting better then she thought it would and before she knew it they had finished drying the dishes from dinner and plopped down on her couch. He had removed his coat and glasses as she had went out of her way to make the room much darker with her shades down.

"So, what now," she asked and felt a little sheepish at the look her gave her.

"Well it is your house and you invited me over so I thought you had something in mind." 'Hell yeah I had something in mind,' she thought feeling her face heat up. 'Come on he isn't suggesting that.' She coughed awkwardly in her hand trying to clear certain things from her mind.

"Well I wanted to spend time with you, but to be honest I didn't have anything in particular planned out per se," she said feeling dumber and dumber with the admission. And in an instant she felt like her heart was going to beat out of it's chest, he was openly chuckling at her, his face open and uncovered, his boyish smile was enough to make a girl melt. Her eyes drank up the sight in front of her and made sure she would never forget that smile for the rest of her life. 'Thank god I'm the only one who is able to see him like this or I would have a lot more competition.'

"Sakura?" She started realizing he had apparently been calling her name.

"Ah sorry I was spacing out."

"It's so odd I would have never pegged you as someone to space out so much. I guess you're good at hiding it." That time she knew he was teasing her as he was smirking at her.

"It's not my fault. I'm not like this normally at all, it's all your fault," she said pouting childishly looking straight into his eyes. His face immediately sprang with color and she remembered her how she was accomplishing her goal of bringing that color to his face more often.

"A-anyway," she said. "What did you want to do? We could go out shopping, go out to a movie, what sounds good to you?" He was staring at her with a look she couldn't quite decipher but definitely didn't help her no jumping him rule.

"Do we have to go out? I mean isn't there anything we could do just here," he said gesturing to her apartment.

"Yeah sure, I guess we could. I have movies, or TV, or I have video games. Though most are 1 player so..."

"That's fine, a movie sounds great," he said. "What kind do we have to choose from?"

"I have a couple of movies if you wanted to see them? Though I'll warn you they're either horror or romance." He clearly gave her a look that said '_what?'_

"I can't help it, I've always liked romance but after becoming a medic I kind of became fond of horror."

"I don't mind either, why don't you choose one of your favorites?"

"Really? You'll watch _that_ with me?" The way she said _that_ made him want to reconsider his offer but the literal joy in her eyes stopped him.

"S-sure, what is it anyway?"

"Night of the living dead."

"Don't you find that a bit ironic," he asked even as she went to her shelf and seemed to pluck it from the middle shelf without even looking at the label.

"Hmmm why?"

"You do realize in the last shinobi war the dead were brought back to life. They may not have been mindless flesh eaters but I think they still technically qualify as the undead."

"So?" The quick dismissal shot him down, but then again he didn't think it could be all that bad. So an hour and a half later he realized she was way too interested in the inner workings of the human body regardless of if they were dead or alive. Though he couldn't complain, throughout the movie she had slowly migrated from her side of the couch to his and was resting against him with her hand on his leg and her head on his shoulder. He could have sworn he felt her hand twitch a few times like it was going to move but it stayed put. As the movie came to an end she raised her arms above her head and stretched, hearing her different joints pop and crack.

"Ne Shino do you want the bath first or second?"

"B-bath?" She had caught him off guard and the second she offered the bath all he could think of was her naked and lathering herself up in the washroom. "Why don't you go first," he said quickly trying not to think about certain things.

"Ok, I promise I won't take too long." The second she closed the bathroom door behind him he let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He had no idea what he was doing! She was taking a bath, sure they had sparred earlier but they had immediately eaten instead of taking one when they first got home. This would also be the second night they spent together, would she be expected more of what happened the first time? He could feel his face turn a dark shade of red as he replayed images from the night before over in his head. Or maybe it would just be innocent cuddling? Even then he seemed a bit jittery, his experience in this area was seriously lacking and he would try his damndest not to look stupid. Speaking of bed though...'where am I sleeping?' The obvious answer would be her bed, but then bed brought other ideas...and he was thinking in a damn loop. No wonder teenagers couldn't accomplish anything with their brains constantly in the gutter.

'Just calm down. When she gets out you can ask her where you're sleeping and then let her take the lead.' It was as simple as that, make a plan and stick with it. It was about that time that the bathroom door creaked open. He stood and went to ask Sakura about the sleeping arrangements but before words could even form he was stunned speechless. She was in nothing more then a towel which covered her from chest to mid thigh and was using another towel to dry her hair.

"I didn't take too long did I," she asked not noticing he was frozen in place. Seeing as he was now having trouble with cognitive thought and didn't trust himself with more then a few words he was quite proud to get out the sentence he wanted.

"Yeah sure, umm excuse me," he said quickly darting into the bathroom behind her leaving a confused Sakura outside the bathroom. He took a quick and slightly cooler than normal shower to help pull his head together and even then lingered in the bathroom probably longer than necessary before vacating the bathroom. He was forced to wear a pair of long sweat pants she had laying around from one of her friends (probably Ino with them being purple and all, but was left shirtless as he had no spare shirt and he was pretty sure any of Sakura's would be too small. He did not feel her presence in the living room anymore so he turned to the only other door in the apartment and knocked even though the door was cracked.

"Come in, and you don't have to knock you know." He came in the room and immediately felt her eyes roving over his form and had to force himself not to blush. Not only was he trying not to blush from her gaze but also from his own eyes roving over her petite figure clothed in only a small t-shirt (obviously no bra or bindings underneath) and tight fitting boxers.

"Shino," she said seriously her eyes now focused on his. "Is something wrong? You've seemed kind of off all night."

"Ah well, kind of," he said honestly.

"What's wrong? You can tell me." She scooted over on the bed and patted the spot beside him. He eyed the spot then her hesitantly before sitting down on the soft bed.

"It's pretty stupid, but, I can't help it. I'm really nervous, I keep trying to just go with it and enjoy myself but I've never done a lot of these types of things before."

"Shino you don't have to be nervous. I know I was teasing earlier but really if you don't want anything to happen tonight we don't have to-"

"No that's not it," he said firmly cutting her off. "It's, it's completely the opposite." Her face seemed to redden and he could swear he could feel her pulse quicken under his palm. His left hand reached up to cup the side of her face. "I've never had such a need to be with another person before. I want to be with you more than I've ever wanted to be with someone and I don't know what to do about it. I don't know how to control myself. I was hoping you would try to take the lead and start things earlier because I wasn't sure how but you never did and now...now I feel like I'm going to explode if I don't touch you." Her one hand reached up to cover the one he had against the side of her face which was now flushed as her eyelids dropped slighlty giving hjima heated gaze.

"Then touch me." And those two words were all it took to undo him as his lips crashed down on hers. Her lips were soft and supple as he licked and nibbled on them before delving into her open mouth making her gasp. His hands were in her hair, on her back, on her thigh, roving over every inch of her just feeling. A whole days worth of pent up frustration coming out all at once. She tasted like mint and smelled like strawberries, and every inch of her was warm and soft and tight. He stifled a moan against her neck as his mouth wandered to the junction between her neck and shoulder. Her hands were also on the move as they slid up along his bare chest grazing a nipple as they slid around to his back to rake their way across smooth planes of muscle. Her legs rubbed against his own, her smooth thighs and calfs making him urge for more. He surprised her when he pulled away for a moment only to take hold of the bottom of her shirt and slowly pull it over her head even as she moved to accommodate him. She lay beneath him now, somehow ending up on her back on the bed, breaths coming heavy as her now bare chest rose and fell with each gasp. Her body was flushed and just a gleam of sweat seemed to shine on her body, she was in a word-

"Beautiful." Her complexion seemed to darken into a red instead of pink as she was trapped under his warm gaze. She felt exposed under his gaze and had to look away as her insides were already aching and if he were to look he would see the evidence of it in her underwear. She leaned over quickly and hit the lights, helping to shield her in the darkness and make her feel less exposed.

"Shino," she called out to him, her arms open, he covered her body with his own falling into her embrace. He once again kissed her lips drawing out little moans and pants that only excited him more as their bodies rubbed against each other causing pleasurable friction. He then kissed his way down her neck biting just enough to make her moan and probably leave a mark in the morning, before coming to stop at her perky nipples just asking to be teased. He took one of the pert peaks into his mouth and suckled letting his tongue swirl around it feeling it tighten under his ministrations. His other hand came up to cup her other breast and tease the other nipple into a similar state. At this point he was going on instinct and hoping if she didn't like something she would ask him to stop. It was like his body was on fire, every moan or noise from her throat made his arousal even harder and twitch in his pants. He felt way too over dressed. Using one hand he was able to get himself out of his pants and kick them on the floor; and was once again kissing her mouth, his one hand still on her breast while his other struggled to get her boxers off. She helped kick them free and off her legs somewhere on the floor.

"Sakura please, I can't hold back anymore," he said hoping she'd understand what he was trying to say.

"Yes please," she all but moaned spreading her legs and grabbing a hold of him to position him at her entrance. He tried to hold on to some self control as the head of his cock slowly pushed through her wet folds, he gasped as her walls clenched around him pulling him in up to his base and he shuddered reveling in the feel of her. He was trying to hold still to let her adjust but she seemed ready enough if her grinding against him was any indication.

"Sakura," he hissed and once again trying to hold onto some self control pulled himself out and slid back in creating such blissful friction he swore he saw stars. Sakura seemed to have her own plans about the pace though as she continued to grind and clench around him in a way that made it hard to keep a slow pace, it seemed he wasn't the only one with pent up frustration. The bed began to squeak in protest under the friction as he dove into her over and over again. She grasped the headboard to try and keep herself in place with each thrust. He pushed himself up with his arms and once again attacked her breast with his one free hand, grasping and pinching at her nipples even as her moans became louder and her breaths quicker.

"S-shino," she stuttered as she hooked a leg around his waist. "Please I'm so close." The desperation in her voice was almost his undoing but he was able to hold on by just a thread as one of his hands made it's way between their two moist slapping bodies and he slipped a finger between her wet folds to find that one spot that would be her undoing. All it took was a few strokes of her clitoris and she was spasming under him, moaning loud enough he was actually afraid to wake the neighbors.

"Shit," he groaned as he felt himself loosing control and shuddered as he came inside of her, feeling himself twitch inside of her spilling himself deep within her, filling her completely. Even as her own body slowly started to come down from it's own high still squeezing him sporadically, draining him. He held himself up on his arms for a moment just panting as he looked down at her hooded eyes, her breaths coming out in little pants as she leaned up to capture his lips in her own.

"Shino that was amazing, I didn't think you could be that aggressive," she all but purred as she continued panting trying to get her breathing under control. It might have been more like a quicky but apparently they'd both been holding back all day. She was still flushed and she smelled of sweat and sex and it was the most tempting smell ever. The little light from the moon that shone through her window made the sweat on her body glisten and she looked ethereal like a fae.

I-I couldn't help it," he said the darkening red hue on his face less from the sex and more from embarrassment. "It's been building inside me all day and I didn't know how to stop," he admitted. He took a moment to slowly slip out of her earning a hiss from both as their sensitive flesh protested. He rolled next to her on his side and she rolled on her side as well to face him.

"You act like it's a bad thing," she teased smiling. "Shino I just want you to be yourself around me, I don't want you to hold back."

"But-"

"I know you have some odd quirks and some things are new to you. But you don't think I have odd quirks? You don't think some of this is new for me too?"

"New? But you weren't a vir-" She silenced him with a finger to his lips.

"I didn't mean that. I mean I've dated plenty, and done different things with guys. But I haven't felt something like this for someone since my Sasuke. And to tell the truth...I think that this might be more then those feelings were."

"Sakura." He leaned closer and trapped her lips with his own. It wasn't rushed or heated or anything like before, just lips against lips soothing and warm and welcome. It wasn't long after that sleep took them both still in the others embrace.

~Morning

It wasn't the light from the sun that woke her (the shades were still down), and it wasn't the cool breeze, it was fairly warm out, it was the sound of light snores coming from behind her. Sakura's eyes fluttered open as she tried to make herself wake for the day. One of the first things she noticed besides the light snores was an arm around her waist, and the warmth of his breath on her neck. It was having one hell of an affect on her already so early in the morning. 'How the hell do you wake up horny? Especially after sex right before bed?' She was almost exasperated with herself as she felt a warmth in her groin as her body began to react to his warmth and memories of the night before. She wasn't sure what she should do, she could wake him up for another romp but he might not be up for it this early in the morning. She could get up and around and just put it out of her mind, but that didn't work so well yesterday. She was contemplating this when she found he might just be 'up' for it. She knew morning wood was just a body's natural reaction, but why couldn't she put it to good use? She was wondering how to wake him up, when she got a devious idea in mind. 'Why not wake him up how I woke up? Horny and wanting it.'

She knew he was new at this and might be kind of embarrassed but this could be a lot of fun. She'd heard a couple of stories from Ino about the blonde girl either waking up with a man already inside of her or vice versa and it sounded kind of hot. She rolled over carefully, his one arm that was draped over her fell to his side and he rolled back onto his back. They were both still fully nude which helped that she didn't have to work around restrictive clothing. She leaned over and let her hand lay across his stomach stroking it lazily and when she noticed he didn't stir she slowly let her wander lower and lower until she felt the wiry hair that signaled she was getting close to her target. Not a moment later her hand came in contact with the half hard member moving slowly and cautiously trying to keep him asleep as long as she could. Her hand gripped his shaft lightly and gave it a stroke or two bringing it to full height. She watched his face for any moment, and while his face did take on a rosy hue he did not wake. After a few strokes pre-cum came from the tip which she used to glide over the head and lube his shaft in her hand. He let out a small groan but seemed to remain in slumber land. 'I wonder just how far I can go with this?' She was really getting into this little game.

Even as she stroked his throbbing member she felt herself getting wetter as well just imagining him sliding in and out of her warm wanting walls. Her other hand slid down between her own legs sliding it between the wet folds and finding the small bundle of nerves hiding there and rubbing it in a circle causing her to hold back a gasp. It took a lot more concentration then she through to touch both herself and him without stopping one or the other. Her body started aching as she let her hand slide further down and slide two digits inside of herself. She half wanted him to wake up and find her touching both him and her, but the other half of her wanted to see if she could do more before he woke. His cock twitched in her hand and she knew if she wanted to do this it was now or never. She slid the sheet off of his form and once against checked for signs of waking but even with his flushed face and hard cock he seemed to still be in slumber land. She slowly sat up and positioned her legs on either side of his waist and took him in one of her hands and used her other to help guide him in. She went slowly and bit by bit put in first the head, then the shaft, then she was sitting on him completely sheathed up to his hilt. She had to stifle a moan as she felt him twitch inside of her again. Her hands found their place on his abdomen as she used it for both leverage and balance as she slowly pulled herself up and then slid back down, the friction leaving her shuddering.

She tried to go as slow as possible still trying to see how far she could take this. But she was amazed he still hadn't really awoken yet. He began panting with his head moving from left to right every now and then, she wondered if he was dreaming, if he was having a wet dream about her. The thought alone made her ache even more and she had to hold herself back from riding him wild and waking him. 'Geez is it possible we might finish without him even waking?' One of her hands made it's way back to her folds and found her clitoris again and began rubbing in time with her slow thrusts. Even with the intense pleasure coming from below she needed more, with him asleep she still needed more to send her over the edge that was coming close but wasn't quite there. Her other hand rose to one of her breasts, cupping it, and kneading it, pinching the nipple between two fingers. It wasn't long before she felt the beginning of the end as she started to loose control and began grinding against him harder, urging more friction between them. He groaned but she couldn't stop herself, she was so close and it felt so good. "S-shino," she moaned softly. Her hands couldn't stop, her body wouldn't stop the up and down motion causing such lovely friction, and she was right there on the edge, she was so close. Then she felt a hand on her waist and looked down to familiar brown eyes that looked both confused and aroused.

"Sakura," it was a question, whisper, and a moan all in one and that was all it took to send her over the edge. She came shuddering on top of him, both her previously preoccupied hands came back to his abdomen, this time to hold her up as she convulsed around him, waves of intense pleasure washing over her; and even as her mind clouded with pleasure she wondered if he came with her. She was panting, and tired, and shaking in pleasure as she put her hands on either side of his head and lowered her head to lay on his chest.

"Good morning," she panted like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Ummm Sakura..." He had something to say, she knew he did, but she wasn't sure what he was going to ask first. "What," was finally the question he settled on, basic but all encompassing.

"Sorry I couldn't help it, I woke up horny and thought I would play around with you until you woke up and then we could have sex, but...you never woke up," she said bashfully.

"Seriously you couldn't have woken me up," he asked but she knew he wasn't mad by the smile on his face.

"Technically I did," she said with a smirk.

"Yes you did, and now what are you going to do about it?"

"What are you-" And then she felt him twitch inside her, still completely hard, and she noticed while very wet it seemed to be all her. "You didn't," she asked kind of shocked. She knew it was hard for him to hold on as long as he did last night, she could tell, but she was surprised his body didn't give in sooner while unconscious.

"Not yet, but maybe you could help me with that." Even though he was acting cool and composed the blush on his face and the way he was slightly panting let her know this was affecting him more then he let on. She sat up on him fully again as he sat himself up as well and his mouth found hers. His one hand went around to grab her ass ad pull her closer seating her more fully on him, and the other went to grasp her now neglected breast she had abandon earlier. She moaned and even though she just came she felt herself growing hotter again. He left her mouth to kiss his way down her neck, stopping at the hollow where her neck connected to her shoulder and nibbled lightly, before continuing down to her chest to the breast he wasn't already fondling. He swirled his tongue around the tight nipple before covering it with his mouth and sucking gently. He felt her contract hard around him and though it was hard in this position he moved his hips upward grinding against her. She moaned louder and he used his teeth to gently bite down on his nipple getting her to spasm around his cock making him groan. He needed more friction, she had driven him crazy in his sleep (as well as giving him one hell of a wet dream) and he was already close enough to breaking, he let go of her nipple with a wet pop.

"S-sakura can we change positions," he asked panting.

"What position do you want," she asked with half lidded eyes. Truthfully he wasn't thinking of any position in particular, and was thinking of the normal missionary. But now that she brought it up he did have something in mind, something he always wanted to try.

"D-do you mind if maybe, just maybe, I could do it from behind?" Even as he said it he couldn't look her in the eyes. He wasn't sure if this is something you asked before hand, or if it was something you just told her to do in the heat of the moment. He knew he wasn't smooth and even expected her to laugh at him, though thankfully she didn't. Being put on the spot was embarrassing but still...

"Sure that's fine," she said like it was nothing and grabbed his shoulders to help pull herself up from the current position. His body ached and cried as it left her warm sheath, but she quickly turned around and positioned her head near the end of the bed, her body on all fours, as she lifted her ass in the air and looked back at him. The way she positioned herself alone almost had him coming on the spot. He quickly took his place behind her and grabbed a hold of his length guiding it back into her and feeling her squeeze him tightly as he entered until he buried himself back up to the hilt.

"Ah that feels so good," she moaned. His hands came to rest on her backside as he pulled himself back out and slide back in, the friction was amazing, and he swore he could feel himself go even deeper then before. She seemed to be enjoying it as well if her pants and moans were anything to go by. As he picked up the pace with every thrust he saw her perky breasts jiggling and they were just too tempting to pass up. His hands slowly left her backside to slide up and cup her breasts, his fingers rubbing and pinching at her nipples even as her moans became deeper and her inner walls seemed to try and keep him inside with every squeeze. He could feel himself coming close to the end.

"Sakura," he ground out. "I'm really close." She seemed to understand and he noticed her move her right arm somewhere passed his hands and between her legs. She moaned as she apparently found what she was looking for.

"Just a little more, I'm almost-" She gasped as she shifted and put her arm in a new position the weight shifted to her shoulder and her waist moved a bit making him in turn shift as well and change the position of his thrust, which she seemed to notice immediately.

"Oh yes Shino, right there, please," she all but begged. He thrust again and she seemed to be coming undone below him. Her hips were grinding back against him and he pulled back out and slammed right back in as he felt his sac grow tight and his length stiffen.

"Sakura," he ground out in warning as he finally let go as he came inside of her, he was sure she could feel him cum with how hard that orgasm seemed shake him to the core. He could feel the liquid heat leave his body and he gripped her tightly in pleasure holding her in place. He was having trouble getting his vision to focus as he tried to catch his breath. His vision came into focus on her, just as he felt intense pain, he yelped and looked down to see her still touching herself even as her panting grew into throaty moans.

"Sakura what?" But before she could answer her moan turned into a long wail and he felt her inner walls starting to contract tightly around his overly sensitive member and quickly pulled out as she rode her second high for the day, her ass still in the air as his (and now her) fluids slowly trickled down her legs in a sticky wet looking trail. She was barely able to stay up right for another moment before she fell over panting hardshly. He slowly crawled over to her and put an arm around her waist.

"You know," she said still panting. "I could get used to waking up like that."

"Sakura while I like it very much I think I would die if we did that at the beginning of _every_ morning." She giggled and leaved up to kiss the tip of his nose.

"Fine, only every other day then," she said and smiled at the look of disbelief on his face. She slowly pulled herself back up into a sitting position and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"Where are you going," he asked and she tried not to giggle at the kicked puppy look he was giving her.

"To shower, I don't think I can put anything on right now without getting it dirty, so I need to clean myself up first. Want to join me?" The way she said it was innocent but he wasn't sure if he could take that at face value. And with as much as they'd done in the last 12 hours he was sore and way too tired.

"No I'm going to nap a bit longer, wake me when you get out," he asked. She leaned over to kiss him on the forehead before getting up from the bed.

"Sure thing, though I'm definitely taking a much longer one then I did last night."

"Fine." And even as he repositioned himself on the bed and felt his body aching and sensitive from their recent activities he couldn't help the bit of arousal he felt as he saw he walk completely naked down the hall to the bathroom. 'Sakura what are you doing to me?' He groaned and smothered his face in the pillow trying to relax.

AN: So now that Shino is getting a bit more into it does he seem too OOC? I tried really hard and thought back to when I was still that naive and embarrassed and tried to draw from that. That was also why it kind of took me so long to get this one out. Anyway plot will finally get a big kick start in next chapter, hope you keep reading!


	10. Adventures in Babysitting

AN: I was supposed to be job hunting today but this is the one chapter I've had in mind since I started this fic so I wanted to sit down and write it. Look the plot came back, but I will warn you I plan on having two more lemon scenes in this fic before we're done, I blame it on the obvious lack of Shino/Sakura smut corrently available. BTW speaking of being done, as I currently have it planned we're at the half way mark for this fic. Anyway I can't promise quicker updates all the time but glad I was able to get this out.

Chapter 10: Adventures in Babysitting

Sakura was standing at a one story traditional style house in a different area of the Aburame district than she usually visited. She hefted the backpack she had packed full on her shoulder again and tapped on the door a few times. She had her medic med pouch and a few kunai on her but aside from that she was wearing civilian clothes, a light green t-shirt, khaki shorts, and normal sandals. It was a moment later when a woman in her mid thirties answered. She had the same dark hair and eyes normal for the clan; she wore her hair short held back with small red hair clips and was wearing a formal yukata with little rose petals on it, she had slender sunglasses perched on her nose and smiled when she saw the pink haired girl.

"Sakura-san, it's so good to see you again!"

"Tara-san, it's good to see you again."

"Kimiko, Sakura-san is here," she called and allowed Sakura through the doorway. It was the night of the clan meeting, meaning Sakura was going to be spending the night with Kimiko. She'd been over twice already this week, once was to meet her parents who had drilled her about what she would do in emergency situations and make sure she could defend herself and Kimiko(Shino wasn't kidding about them being over protective); and the second time was to meet Kimiko herself. The little girl came up to her knees, she had long black hair in a braid and soft dark eyes that widened when she had met her. The little girl was extremely shy around strangers but thankfully Sakura knew from her own childhood how to get the girl to warm up to her. By the end of the second visit the little girl was begging Sakura to come over again. Really though she didn't mind, the little girl was adorable and being so shy she didn't have a lot of friends to play with. Said little girl was now bounding down the stairs and came to wrap herself around Sakura's legs.

"Sakura nee-chan, you came!" Sakura crouched down to her height and rubbed the top of her head.

"Of course I am, I said I'd be back." She felt a little tickle on her shoulder and knew the beetle on her must be reacting to Kimiko. Shino had explained in her second visit that Kimiko was still young and didn't have as tight of control over her beetles. Not that they would attack, but they might come out more if she were excited or scared as they reacted to chakra and that might cause her own beetle to react. She was thankful she warned him because during the second meeting she had gotten too happy after beating Sakura at a game of crazy eights and a few of the small insects had fluttered out from under her sleeves and the girl looked horrified. She figured it must have been because normally people would scream or be disgusted, but she dared to say she was getting used to it and didn't say anything about it, which seemed to relieve the little girl greatly.

"Remember Kimiko be good for Sakura-san and listen to what she says. We'll be back after bed time so you'd better be in bed when we get home," she said leaning down to hugs and kiss her small daughter.

"Hai." A moment later there was another knock on the door and Tara opened it to reveal Shino.

"Shino-chan what are you doing here?" He grumbled a bit as his cousin referred to him as 'chan.'

"I was letting you know that the clan from lightning is settling in at the Hokage's Hall for the meeting so we should all be going soon.

"Ah it was nice you came in _person_ to tell us that. By the way _Sakura-san_ is here already. Why don't you say hello," she teased knowing full well why her little cousin came over. She giggled a bit as she noticed the pink around his glasses but said nothing more. His entire family seemed to be thrilled they were dating and took every chance they could to either tease him about it or make little comments like 'so when's the wedding?' But it was all in good spirits so she took it in such.

"Shino you didn't have to come check on me you know? We'll be fine," she said but smiled anyway glad he stopped by. She thought about visiting before she came over but she didn't know if his family would be busy preparing. She had sat in on a few different clan meetings both in Konoha and in Suna and certain clans required certain etiquette and had to be prepared for accordingly. She noticed Tara had taken Kimiko in the other room to say goodbye to her father and left them alone in the hallway.

"I know you'll be fine." He paused for a moment. "I just wanted to see you was all." His straight honesty brought color to her face and she couldn't help but lean up and kiss him softly. It was a bit more then chaste but she controlled herself since they were in someone else's home.

"I'm glad I wanted to see you too. Anyway maybe after the meeting you could walk me home?"

"Defitely."

"All right we're coming," Tara announced before they even made it to the hallway, making sure she didn't catch them doing anything by the loud almost comical way she called out before she and her husband came out.

"Have a good night, I'll see you later," she said and walked with themto the door, Kimiko waved to her parents until the three were out of site and then turned to Sakura.

"What do we do now?"

"Well what do you want to do? We could play cards, or I could read to you, or..." She took the bag off her shoulder and pulled out a small cardboard box with lots of colorful shapes and letters on it. "I have a board game we could play."

Kimiko was a rather sweet child and she listened well while they played together over the next two hours with card and board games before she fed the little girl dinner and gave her a bath. It was after the bath when she was brushing the girls towel dried hair, she was already getting sleepy and it was all she could do to get the girl to sit upright while she brushed her hair. With the little girl being so sleepy she didn't notice Sakura pull something out of her bag and tie it up in the little girl's hair giving her a loose pony tail instead of the braid.

"Kimiko, wake up you're not in you're bed yet," she called nudging the little girl awake. She yawned and sat up as Sakura helped her to stand up from her lap where she had been dozing.

"So what do you think," she said and held up a hand mirror showing the little girl her handiwork.

"It's not in a braid," she said, though not disappointed just observant.

"Yes, and look," she said and turned her around to the full length mirror in the girls closet and used the two mirrors to show her the bright yellow ribbon she had tied in her hair.

"It's so pretty, is it yours?"

"No it's yours." The little girl's eyes got big and round and Sakura was afraid she was going to cry.

"But it's so pretty."

"And so are you Kimiko, you just need to smile more and to do that you need to show you're face." The little girl was shocked for a moment until she launched herself at Sakura hugging her with all the strength a four year old could.

"Thank you Sakura nee-chan!"

"You're welcome Kimiko, now come on we need to get you tucked in, you're parents want you asleep when they get home."

"Yes Sakura nee-chan" It didn't take long to get her tucked in a read her a quick bedtime story, the little girl was out before she even finished the book. She checked to make sure the window was locked securely and warded and then left the door cracked open as she went downstairs to clean up the toys and games they'd left out. She was just finishing the dishes when for some reason the beetle, now on the left side of her chest started fluttering. It wasn't like normal where it would flutter for a moment and stop, it started and then it wouldn't stop. She immediately went on the alert, she moved into a blind spot in the kitchen and made a clone to continue the dishes and then cloaked her chakra and slipped up the stairs quietly. She peaked in Kimiko's room using a mirror to look around the corner and tried not to gasp when she noticed the bed was empty. She felt no presence in the room and didn't see anything with the mirror so she slipped inside not turning the light on. The window was still shut and locked but she noticed the ward had been disabled. 'Shit!' She dispelled her clone as she quickly ran down the stairs two at a time and slipped out the front door trying to be quiet as she tried to locate the small girl. She sat for a moment and concentrated, she wasn't a sensor type but when she really concentrated she could pick up even cloaked chakras close in the area. She was about to give up and call for help when she felt a small wisp of chakra near the back end of the compound. Still cloaking herself she pushed chakra to her feet and made a beeline for what she had felt.

The compound was not large and it only took her a few moments to make it to the empty backyard where she found three stone ninjas with a dazed looking Kimiko in one of their arms. She landed in front of them stopping their stealthy retreat and they stopped in their tracks assessing her.

"Give me Kimiko." While she had wanted to sound threatening her voice came out as more of a growl then even she would have liked. She noticed them all tense and look at each other. The constant fluttering on her chest quickly moved and her one lone beetle shot out of her shirt and flew to the little girl. The ninja were shocked but the big was too quick for them to really do anything as it shot into the girls shirt. A moment later the hazy look on the girl's face disappeared and the poor girl looked scared and confused.

"Where am I?" She started struggling in the man's arms and it looked like he was about ready to knock her out to keep her quiet when he fell to the ground in a heap and Sakura caught the scared child keeping her close. Before she had even landed in front of them she had weaved a light genjutsu. Not enough to try and be harmful enough to alert them to disable it, but enough to get her to Kimiko. As long as she had a hold of the girl nothing would happen to her.

"Give us the girl," one of the ninja's ordered pulling his katana as he did.

"Over my dead body," she snarled. With a few hand signs she quickly created a clone and handed the girl over. "Listen Kimiko," she said as calmly as she could. I need you to close your eyes and cover your ears and hum as loud as you can until I tap you on the shoulder. When I tap you on the shoulder you can uncover your ears and stop humming but no matter what, _do not_ open you eyes okay sweetie?" The little girl nodded the fear still in her eyes, but something else was there was well, trust. She was not going to betray that trust tonight, no matter what. Kimiko then did as she asked and closed her eyes tight and put her hand over her ears humming loudly. She turned to the nin who had been watching her as they seemed to be trying to formulate a plan. She figured they hadn't planned on her being there tonight or else maybe they thought her parents would hire a simple genin team to watch her. One thing was she had the element of surprise as they seemed to know nothing about the opponent in front of them.

The one with the drawn sword came at her first. He strictly used his sword and hand to hand techniques. She kept her eye darting back and forth to the other two but they seemed to be planning something else. It wasn't until her eyes shifted to the one on her right she noticed something _off_. She quickly made a hand sign.

"Kai," she shouted and the genjutsu dispersed revealing one of them sneaking up on her and the other sneaking up on her clone. She quickly made the hand signs and used substitution technique...with the ninja who had been sneaking up behind her. The one coming at her with the sword ended up slicing his buddy in the arm, unfortunately even though it seemed deep it didn't put the other guy out of commission. She then darted in front of her clone knocking away the other attacker and dispelling the genjutsu on her clone. She was tempted to have the clone run and save Kimiko but that would divert all their attention there and Kimiko might get hurt in the crossfire. Right now they were focused more on her and she wanted to keep it that way. Right now she still had the element of surprise as they had no idea about her strength. If she could get in close enough with one of the two not wielding the sword she could use that and take one out. But first she had to get close enough.

The sword wielder came at her again and the wounded man fell back. The other uninjured guy also came at her from the side though definitely wary after what she did to the last guy. She dodged the sword from one and the thrown kunai from the other. She grabbed a special kunai from her pouch, and made sure to aim properly. She tossed it at the sword wielder but he dodged it, as he dodged it she threw a second one and while he dodged this one it ricocheted off the first and it lodged itself in the leg of the already wounded nin. He pulled it out cussing hotly but aside from a glance back his teammates did nothing. She smirked, 'one down.' She was slightly distracted and so took a swipe at her leg. A bit deep but it barely touched the muscle, her leg was still functional. She watched as she heard a thump and knew the kunai she laced with a neurological poison had taken affect and their buddy had passed out. They both turned for a split second at the sound, and that was all the time it took.

Sakura poured the raw power of chakra into her first and stepped into the sword wielders personal bubble and put her hand through his chest. She pulled her hand out of his chest coated in blood and knew her element of surprise was now gone, but now they were evenly matched. She turned to face the last guy but noticed she couldn't, she looked down to see what was causing her to be unable to move and her eyes widened in shock as she saw the katana the man had been wielding sticking out of her abdomen. 'Why don't I feel that?' The first time he had sliced her she felt it and it stung like a bitch, but this time she didn't even notice til she went to move.

'Shit! Poison!' It had to be a numbing agent that would eventually paralyze her. She didn't have time to contemplate it as the last of the group came at her and she pulled the sword from her gut and dodged. 'I have to finish this and fast!' She quickly made three clones of herself and distracted him with the three. While distracted she made one more and switched with it hiding by the side of the house quickly going through hand signs. He had dispersed all of the clones by now except the one she had switched with and even as he continued fighting her and she dodged to make sure not to be dispelled. Sakura had trouble finishing the last few seals as her hands were going numb. 'Focus!' She finished the last signal and then the man was lost in his own little word fighting an imaginary Sakura. She quickly came out after she made sure he was lost in the genjutsu and hit him in the back of the head knocking him unconscious. 'Shit now where do I go first?' She needed to get Kimiko to the safety of her parents, but she also needed to stay and guard the one ninja she had knocked unconscious until backup arrived. Hell she needed to get backup and inform the hokage, but her chakra was flagging and her body slowly going numb.

"Screw it," she said even as she felt her lips slowly going numb. She concentrated for a few moments trying to slow the drug in her system. For her to remove it she would need a lot more time and effort and there were other things she had to to, but she might be able to buy a few more minutes. So she quickly made 2 other clones, now having 3 with the one guarding kimiko. She pointed at them one after another giving instructions.

"You go to the hokage tower, tell her what happened and have them send backup. You, go to the gate guard, make sure they're all right and then get them to search in case they had backup. You," she said pointing to the one holding kimiko. "Tie up the one I knocked out and make sure he doesn't escape before backup arrives. She nodded and they dispersed to do as told minus the last one. Sakura walked up to her clone holding the little girl and tapped the still humming girl on the shoulder. She stopped humming and took her hand off her ears but kept her eyes closed tight.

"Kimiko we're going to go see you're mommy and daddy now ok?"

"I thought I was supposed to be in bed?" She was still scared and confused.

"It's ok, I promise they won't be mad at you ok?" The little girl nodded and her clone handed her over. She then put the last of the energy she had into her feet and made booked it to the hall where they were having a meeting. She really hated to interrupt as it might mess up the marriage meeting but she doubted with the poison in her body she had time to be discreet about the attack. She made it there but was having trouble getting her legs to work as she couldn't feel them, but quickly opened the door and down the hall to where she heard voices. She opened the door cutting off whoever was talking and heard a couple of gasps of shock. She quickly found Kimiko's parents in the crowd and walked over to them. But seeing the kunoichi there with their daughter they quickly ran over to take the little girl from her arms.

"Kimiko are you all right?" At the sound of her mother's voice the little girl opened her eyes. 'I did it, I kept her safe.' As the adrenalin wore off she felt exhausted.

"Mommy." She looked over as she felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Shino looking at her completely shocked.

"What happened?"

"Stone tried to kidnap her. I stopped them, I sent a clone for backup and have one back at the compund taiing him upp." She noticed her words came out slurred and knew her time was about up as the poison continued flooding her system.

"Sakura what's wrong?" His voice seemed frantic but for some reason far away.

"Pooisonn, nummping."

"Oh god her stomach," someone to her left shouted and she looked down and was surprised to see her front completely soaked with blood and dripping down her shorts. 'I didn't think he got me that bad. But then again...I can't feel it."

"Sakura!" Someone was shouting at her but he sounded so far away. Maybe it was Shino?

"Shee-no." Then she noticed she was looking at the ceiling...'why am I looking at...?' Then her vision was obscured by warm brown eyes that looked so sad and upset but it was so hard to see because everything was so dark...

She smelt before any of her other senese kicked in, she smelled antiseptic, and fresh linen, and medicines. She heard soft murmuring from far away and the sound of carts moving noisily down an echoing hallway, and she heard light breathing, really close to her. She went to open her eyes but just trying to move them alerted the rest of her body that she was awake and it was time to finally feel pain. She groaned at the stabbing pain in her gut, and her leg burned deep into the muscle, and her head was throbbing. Though the throbbing headache she knew was from chakra depletion. But then she felt something on her hand, someone else's hand holding hers.

"Sakura?" A voice, it sounded so hopeful, and familiar. "Sakura?" She groaned and even though her body was screaming in pain she forced her eyes open. Thankfully the curtains seemed to be closed as the room wasn't that brightand it didn't take long for her eyes to adjust and fall on the familiar form of Shino.

"Shino," she tried to say but it came out more of a gasp and she coughed.

"Sakura how do you feel?"

"Hurts," she whimpered. He immediately left her side and ran to the door shouting for a nurse, she groaned trying to fight down waves of nausea for the pain. It was a moment later a nurse came bustling in and after a short conversation at the door she left. Shino poured her a glass of water and tried to get her to drink but the nausea from the pain made even water seem unappealing. A moment later the same nurse came in with a needle and bottle and measured out a dose to insert into the tube in her arm. Almost immediately relief flooded her system and the pain ebbed away until only the dull throb from chakra exhaustion remained but she knew there was nothing to be done about that. She then gratefully accepted the drink from Shino as he helped her sit up in bed.

"I'll let hokage-sama know you're awake I know she'll want to talk with you," said the nurse as she left the room closing the door behind her. She nodded and then tried to pull together her disjointed memories to remember what happened.

"Kimiko, how is she?"

"She's completely fine. Not a scratch on her, though now I think you're in trouble. She's looking up to you like a hero, she's told everyone in the district and even beyond about how you saved her."

"I'm glad. I was afraid she might take to hiding herself away after they attempted to kidnap her."

"Sakura, I am so sorry." His voice was coated in remorse and as she looked closer she noticed his glasses were gone since the room was darker, and he had dark rings under his eyes and they were bloodshot. He looked like he hadn't slept in a couple of days. 'Couple of days?'

"Shino, don't be sorry you didn't do anything. How long have I been out?"

"About 3 days now. You were out of the woods after the first day but Tsunade said it would take a while for your to come around since you just got over chakra exhaustion not even a month ago."

"Geez, I'm sorry I didn't mean to worry you," she said as she reached out to stroke the side of his face.

"No it's my fault, I should have been the one guarding Kimiko."

"Shino you can't think like that. I offered to help and thankfully I did my job right."

"It wasn't supposed to be a job, it was just supposed to be babysitting."

"I've learned since my first escort mission to treat everymission like I could go horribly wrong."

"That's pretty pessimistic," he joked.

"Not pessimistic, just prepared," she joked back. She felt so tired even though she had just woken up from a 3 day long nap. She was then jolted out of her daze when she felt a familiar buzzing on her arm and looked down to see her beetle back on her again.

"She came back."

"Huh," he looked where she was looking and saw his long lost beetle. "What do you mean?"

"That night, she alerted me Kimiko was gone, they put her under genjutsu and were taking her out of the compound. I tried to stop them and when I did she flew over to Kimiko and it somehow woke her up. I didn't even notice her come back." His brows were furrowed but she figured he was worried to hear how reckless she was being. "Were they able to take a prisoner?"

"Yes one of them lived. They arrived and you're clone had disappeared after you passed out but apparently she was trying to heal the poisoned one but he still died. The one you knocked out is downstairs in interrogation."

"What did they find out?"

"Not much, they're waiting for Inochi to take a shot at him tomorrow." They were silent after that with Shino just looking at her. He looked so lost, and so sad, almost like he was still waiting for her to wake up.

"Shino." He looked up at her and she scooted over patting the space on the bed beside her. Normally he would say that wouldn't be appropriate or he'd be too shy to crawl into her bed. But after three days of watching her unconscious form in the bed, just barely living...he immediately crawled into bed and wrapped his arms around her holding her tight. She wrapped her arms around him and listened to the rapid pace of his heart as she knew he was holding back tears.

"I promise," she whispered, so softly she wasn't sure if even he'd hear. "I'll always come back to you."

"Sakura." She couldn't help it as the wave of tiredness drew over her and she fell back asleep in the warm arms of the one she loved.

AN: Fight scenes are always so hard for me but I hope it was believable. I know she might have taken them out too easily for some but they were on enemy territory and we're not expecting this kind of resistance so they were underprepared. Anyway hope you liked!


	11. Connecting the Dots

AN: Thank you to everyone who has been giving me such wonderful reviews, I appreciate them and it's what makes writing this worthwhile even with how busy I am. I know some people have addressed the issue about me making them go a little fast in this relationship. Part of that is just the fact there is _so_ _little_ lemon between these two I feel I need to make up for it. Also I feel Sakura is very passionate and gets swept up in emotions concerning love more easily. I could be wrong and they could be OOC, but I try not to make them too much so. I really don't. Anyway hope you enjoy.

Chapter 11: Connecting the Dots

Thankfully Tsunade had taken her time getting to Sakura's room, though it might have had something to do with her watching the interrogation on the prisoner. Regardless Sakura and Shino were able to get a nice nap in before she came and woke them up. Shino seemed a bit embarrassed but was still reluctant to leave her side, but did so Tsunade could check her over. Thankfully though poisoned the wounds weren't infected and it looked like everything was healing fine. She might even be able to go home tomorrow though Tsunade threatened to seal her chakra so she couldn't drain herself twice in a month. It was a threat she knew to take seriously.

She was extremely surprised when she got a large group of visitors as soon as Tsunade had opened the door to leave. Naruto was leading the way with Hinata and Kiba right behind him and Ino came in with a gym bag slung over her arm and Kakashi taking up the rear behind her, settling at the back of the room leaning against the wall. She didn't see Shino come back in but thought maybe he'd went to the bathroom or something. The way he looked she was pretty sure he'd barely left her side the last few days.

"Sakura-chan!" The loud voice of her teammate came out as both a yell and a whine as he launched himself at her and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. "We were all so worried, we thought you weren't ever going to wake up!"

"Baka!" Ino came up and slapped him upside the head to get him to release her. "Be careful she just woke up, like _we all told you she would_. I swear he thought we were lying to him or something," she said directing the last part at Sakura.

"B-but." Poor Naruto looked put out and she couldn't help but giggle.

"You should trust them Naruto, Ino's a medic like me she would definitely tell you if something was wrong." He sighed defeated but looked up at her with a watery smile.

"I'm just really glad you're ok. Who would have thought something like that could happen in the village." Sakura couldn't help the confused look on her face.

"What are you talking about? This _has_ happened before." Now Naruto was the one looking confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"You mean you never heard? Hinata was kidnapped from the village when she was a kid," Kiba said finally butting into the conversation. It was a bit odd to see him there considering all the times they butted heads but she was kind of glad he wouldn't let his pride get in the way of checking on a friend. She knew she'd do the same for him.

"WHAT!? Hinata-chan is it true?" He seriously looked flabbergasted and turned to the poor Hyuga. Hinata was being put on the spot but was able to stutter out an affirmation even with her red face. "N-no way! What kind of bastards do that!?"

"People who want bloodline abilities," Shino said re-entering the room. He looked a bit more refreshed then he had earlier and was glad. "Most families that have bloodline abilities or just abilities passed down have had attempted kidnappings at one point or another. Unfortunately it's something that happens, people want what they don't have."

"It still doesn't make it right. Children shouldn't be dragged into something they have no control over." His sentiment seemed to strike the room into a sober mood and Sakura felt the real weight of what had happened. Shino's family was already having fertility issues and if they had really gotten away with Kimiko it would have been a huge blow to the family, not just emotionally, but in clan strength. With no new generation to pass abilities down to a clan dies, the Uzumaki clan was hanging on by a thread right now as the few survivors had all but scattered to the wind and some of the clan secrets had already been lost.

"Be that as it may, Sakura was able to save the day," Ino said trying to lighten the mood. "Always have to be a hero don't ya?"

"I think you have the wrong teammate," Sakura said jokingly. "Thank you though everyone for coming to visit me, I'm sorry I worried you all."

"Baka, it's not like you had a choice in the matter," Ino said. "Anyway I heard you're cooped up here another day so I brought you some toiletries and a change of clothes for tomorrow," she said setting the bag on the seat Shino was sitting in earlier.

"Thanks, after a few days I probably need a good shower," she said really feeling the grime sticking to her body for the first time since she woke up.

"Tomorrow though we're all going out to eat to celebrate you getting out of the hospital. We're _not_ going to Ichiraku's," she said sending a glare at Naruto who huffed. "There's a really good habachi grill Choji told me about we're all going out to."

"Isn't that a bit expensive," she said thinking over Naruto's usually limited funds.

"It's no problem, the Aburame's are footing the bill," Ino said with a smile.

"What?! For everyone? But that's way too much!" She looked over at Shino flabbergasted.

"Actually it wasn't my idea. Kimiko's parents offered and my parents agreed, they said to consider it a get well present from them." Shino said it in a way that left no room for arguments, and she knew they wouldn't accept no for an answer, they would probably think it rude.

"Really it's a bit much, but thank you." She felt herself blushing to her roots, she always felt embarrassed when people tried to thank her for doing her job, and on top of it the kindness his family was always showing her always made her heart swell with joy. They were such nice people.

"Come on guys, let's leave Sakura to get a shower and nap, I'm sure she's probably still recovering from the poison," called Kakashi from the back of the room with a happy eye crease. He wasn't much of a talker when others were around but him just being in a _hospital_ to visit her spoke volumes.

"Thank you, everyone." Ino, Naruto, and Shino all came up to give her a hug before they left. As Naruto leaned down for a hug she whispered, 'Wait til everyone leaves and then come back, please.' He pulled back and looked at her questioningly and she gave a slight nod as she held Shino a bit longer just enjoying his warmth before he reluctantly pulled back.

"I'm not going anywhere tonight so please try and get some sleep, I'll see you tomorrow." He gave her the small smile she knew was just for her.

"I'll try." She waved as the last of the group left and counted to 100 before certain loud blonde actually quietly snuck back into the room.

"Sakura-chan, what's up," he asked sounding a little worried. He wasn't sure what he expected that she had to talk to him alone about. She moved the duffel bag and patted the seat next to her bed and he sat down looking her over again. Both times he hugged her earlier she seemed so small, he knew better, knew the power that lay behind those hands, but it was still scary sometimes to see her so vulnerable.

"It's kind of odd and a little late but I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Huh? For what?"

"It's probably stupid but before Shino and I started dating you and Sai both were asking me about him and I kept saying it was nothing and then all of a sudden we were dating. I wasn't trying to keep it a secret from you guys but I wanted to be selfish and keep it to myself for a bit you know? I know it sounds stupid but I trust you guys, all of you like my family and I didn't want you to think I didn't say anything because I didn't trust you." She looked over at him and tried not to laugh at the way he looked like he might cry from happiness.

"Thanks Sakura-chan, I know it's stupid and we shouldn't have gotten so mad but, you know us better than anyone else, sometimes my mouth works before my brain catches up."

"You're like my family Naruto," she said reaching out and taking his hand. "You, Sai, Kakashi-sensei, my mom." She saw his face heat up and while she knew it was kind of embarrassing he appreciated it, growing up without a family, he cherished the bonds he had with the family he had created.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan, I'm really glad you feel the same," he said with one of his bright smiles.

"Good, and now that that's out of the way. What's going on with you and Hinata?" Naruto almost fell out of his chair in shock, dropping her hand in the process.

"What!?"

"You heard me," she said crossing her arms. "We both know you avoided the girl for month's after her confession, which I understand she confessed at an odd time. But then you and her were talking at Kiba's birthday party, and she came with you today as well to see me. So have you started to figure out what's going on?" His face was actually pink and it was so rare for her to get him this embarrassed that she tried not to giggle.

"I-I don't know. I mean I've talked to her a couple of times, and I try being nice to her but it's just-I mean- I-I don't know her!" His confession finally sputtered it's way out of his mouth. "I mean apparently she's liked me for a long time, and then she confesses to me, but I barely know her. What am I supposed to say about that?" She felt bad, the guy actually looked depressed and lost. When it came to matters of the heart Naruto was still a genin.

"You don't _say_ anything, you _do_ something."

"What do I do," he asked perking up slightly at the fact she might have some advice for him.

"Get to know her."

"What?"

"You need to let her know off the bat you don't know your feelings for her so you don't accidentally lead her on, but the best thing to do would be to get to know her. Then you can finally give her an answer one way or another. When I...when I first was interested in Shino I went out of my way to try and get to know him more. To see if it was just some kind of attraction or something or if there was something else to it. You're the only one who will know you're feelings but you won't know how you feel about her if you're never around her." He sat there for a moment digesting the information and working it through in his own way.

"So you're saying I should ask her on a date?" She sighed at his simplified explanation but couldn't disagree.

"Yes _but_ make sure she knows you can't answer her feelings yet, like I said you don't wanna lead her on or you'll both be hurt in the end." 'You more physically since I think Neji might beat you up for breaking his cousin's heart.' He nodded with a rare serious look on his face.

"All right then, I can do that," he said a bit more determined. She sighed getting the feeling he was seeing this as a challenge or obstacle he had to overcome, but that was how Naruto usually took things.

"Good luck then, and while your trying to be nice just be yourself. She actually likes that part of you."

"Sakura-chan," he whined at the jab but still smiled. He leaned down to hug her one more time before saying his goodbye for the night. She sighed feeling a bit better. She had been meaning to talk to him about that but then she'd been so caught up with Shino that she had kind of been neglecting her team, which she felt guilty about. She really should make some more time for them, especially since the lack of Sai in her room could only mean he was on a mission right now. Even though he was socially backwards and accidentally rude he usually came to visit his teammates when they did end up in the hospital. She stretched and once again felt the grime clinging to her, she grabbed the duffel bag that had ended up next to her bed and went to take a long hot shower and get some rest.

~Prison Cells – Block A~

Aburame Shibi stood behind two way glass looking in at the scene before him. A young man, a stone shinobi, short brown hair, brown eyes, his body pretty black and blue at this point. Ibiki was really giving his all on this guy, but then again they always took kidnappings seriously, especially when it came to clans. Konoha had some of the most wanted bloodline abilities of all five great nations but the last attempt had been when cloud had tried to take hyuga hinata. They hadn't been able to get much information from him at all. Somehow they were able to get his name was Shinobu, they were able to tell from some of his abilities for combating genjutsu he was definitely jounin level if not an ANBU. His team had snuck into the village undetected. Konoha had done a wide sweep of the perimeter and couldn't find any kind of backup nearby so they assumed their team was sent alone. They knew he was from stone and were wary of believing there was no backup considering stone had not one but two other clans with similar bloodline abilities relating to insects. The gate guard was on high alert until they got the information they needed from him.

They knew their target had been Kimiko leaving him to believe that stone might be having some of the same fertility problems that they were having. But with no treaty and a shaky alliance they couldn't ask for any help from the hokage and couldn't ask for an arranged marriage like lightning. Not that they would actually _ask_ even if it was possible, stone had a reputation of letting pride get in the way of actual solutions to problems. He sighed, there wasn't a lot he could do to make him talk, he'd withstood genjutsu and physical pain, the only thing left was Inochi who was out right now, and the soonest they could get to him was tomorrow.

He felt so frustrated, his clan had been attacked, his niece nearly kidnapped, if it hadn't been for Sakura he didn't know what would have happened. He knew that Shino would have been just as good at keeping her safe, but he had to wonder if he could have stood up to them when they had come prepared to fight an Aburame and Konoha had been lucky they were thrown off by the girl. They had found weapons laced with poison to disrupt the chakra signals which would have made any Aburame loose control over their beetles, but it wouldn't have the same effect on any other shinobi. It would have just have been a numbing agent which seems to be what happened to Sakura.

He felt himself become alert as his kikai seemed to be on edge about something. He leaned in closer inspecting the man tied to the chair closely. Ibiki was asking him questions again and once again the man wasn't answering but...something seemed off... He continued staring knowing he was looking the evidence right in the face...or the eyes... He quickly jumped back from the glass and grabbed the handle to the door throwing it open and stopping Ibiki mid sentence.

"Shibi what-"

"Stop him! Suicide pill!" Ibiki quickly looked down into the mans eyes and saw the overly large pupils and cursed as he called a medic-nin in. They both knew it was probably too late, by the time the pupils reacted there was maybe 30 seconds before the heart gave out. The medic nin worked on him for almost 10 minutes but there was nothing they could do. Ibiki cursed and had to refrain from hitting the wall in frustration.

"How the hell did that happen? We had him searched top to bottom before we brought him in here, there was nothing on him!"

"Flies."

"What?"

"My kikai sensed it, but you probably didn't notice. There was a fly in the room that had chakra, I noticed something was off but I didn't place it until I felt the chakra in his system and realized what happened. They sent a flie in laced with poison to kill him before we could get anything from him. Stone has two different clans that have bloodline abilities linked with insects, we were looking for a rescue team, not a silencing team. They probably already have confirmation of death by now and are leaving the vicinity."

"Damnit, I know they're trying to cover their tracks but he was at least a jounin, I didn't think they had any to spare."

"Stone will not be caught and will not give us any information no matter what it costs them, it's their pride rearing it's ugly head again." Even with their current failure he had a feeling stone wasn't done with them.

~15 miles outside of Konoha~

A three man squad sat with two of it's members at the ready facing the woods in the direction of Konoha, and a third in a meditative pose on a tree branch. They were dressed head to toe in black with stone forehead protectors adorning their bodies. The two others kept sending quick glances behind them to their third teammate before scanning back out into the forest before them. He had sent out two of his flies almost two hours ago and one had returned almost 10 minutes ago. He had used a specialized genjustu on the insect to get into their lost comrades mind to get any information they could from him before getting rid of him. A moment later said third member of their team opened his eyes and stood as they both turned to him.

"Were you able to dispose of Shinobu?"

"Yes and he was able to gain valuable information regardless of the fuck up. Remember how Reina couldn't figure out how the Aburame were getting around the fertility issues that have been plaguing our clans?"

"Yeah that's the whole reason we're here," sniped the one on the left, obviously agitated that he knew something they didn't.

"The girl's mother isn't an Aburame." The other two looked slightly shocked but recovered.

"It makes sense. So that's how they're getting around it. So then the rumors of another pregnancy?"

"Probably true. Though if she's pregnant she's not showing, or she could just be trying to get pregnant right now, we're not sure. She seems young but then again the information on the first child's age could be wrong and she could be younger than we thought. We need to bring this information back to the tsuchikage and the clans, we only have a small window of opportunity here." The shinobi on the right who had been quiet this whole time spoke up.

"How do you know she wasn't an Aburame though?"

"When they fought her the poison numbed her but there she had no kikai, that and...I don't think I've ever heard of an Aburame with pink hair."

AN: I know some of you might be going, wtf? How could they think Sakura is her mother when she's only 20 and Kimiko is 4? Well they believe Kimiko might actually be younger then the intel they have and really while odd depending on the circumstances I think ninja could get married much younger, and even more so if it's an arranged marriage. And with no information on Sakura at all, they can draw skewed conclusions, even concerning Sakura's age. Hope you enjoyed.


	12. Worth It

AN: Sorry this took so long to update, I'm in desperate need looking for a job. I have two part time jobs but come Jan – March they're both retail and I have little to no hours. I finally graduated and got certified so I've been pounding the pavement looking for a full time job with no success. Anyway I am TRYING to finish this fic up. I feel bad because I started it two years ago and only have 12 chapters out, though it didn't help my dad got in a car accident the same week I started this and had to take care of him for 12 months. ANYWAY. I am TRYING to get this wrapped up by the end of January *crosses fingers* I have it planned out for 21 chapters so far, hope I can do it.

Chapter 12: Worth It

He sighed feeling more worn down and exhausted then after their fight with Pein when he almost annihilated the village. Shino could feel the exhaustion pounding behind his eyes and he ended up stopping at a coffee machine in the lounge to try and get some more energy back in his system. ' _I'm not going anywhere tonight so please try and get some sleep, I'll see you tomorrow.' _Even with her reassuring words he didn't know if he'd actually be able to rest tonight. 'She almost died _again_ to help me, she shouldn't be putting herself in so much danger.' He sighed, 'Then again she's a kunoichi, her entire life is danger.' He couldn't help but feel a bit hypocritical, she had dedicated her life to protecting the village and the people within and even though she was doing exactly that he felt like she was putting herself in too much danger. He finished the coffee cup and drank the last few bitter drops cringing slightly and tossing the cup in the trash. He still had a few things he needed to do before he attempted sleep anyway and he figured the sooner he got them over with the better. He made his way through the village taking to the rooftops once he exited the hospital, until he came to the beginning of his clans compound.

He came down to ground level and walked at a much more sedate pace, before looking up as various relatives greeted him. They were once again in debt to 'Sakura-san,' or 'Sakura-sensei.'. He wasn't sure if she was going to be as pleased with the new wave of admiration, while accomplished she didn't boast her skills unless necessary. He quickly made his way to a very familiar red house on the outer reaches of the compound, glancing towards the back yard where ANBU were not too long ago making their investigation and clearing up the bodies. He knocked once before a familiar head of dark hair peeked around the open doorway.

"Shino!" She immediately opened the door wider ushering him in. "It's so good to see you again, have you been to see Sakura-san?" He entered taking off his sandals as he followed her into the doorway.

"Shino onii-chan!" He almost stumbled as Kimiko flung herself at his legs and attached herself much like a leech. "Is Sakura nee-chan with you?"

"Ah no she's still resting." The little girls face promptly fell. "But Tsunade-sama said she would probably be going home tomorrow. If you want I can take her something for you."

"Really?! I'm going to make nee-chan a card. Don't leave without it ok," she said determinedly and quickly fled the room, the thumping on the stairs indicating she was retreating to her bedroom.

"How is she doing by the way?" He turned to his aunt again and noticed while she was still smiling it was a bit strained. His aunt and uncle had felt responsible for what happened even though no one could have foresaw it. No one had actually expected it to be more then a babysitting job, and if not for clan rules saying it had to be a trusted member of the clan they would have hired a genin team. Even though Sakura wasn't a member of the clan ('yet' his mother continued to say) he vouched for her which was enough. He knew his aunt and uncle would probably come and thank her in person once she left the hospital despite her protests, that was how Sakura was, she didn't see it as anything out of the ordinary, it was her duty, and she was proud to do it. He felt his lips lift in a small smile as he could almost hear her saying that in his head. "Shino?"

"Ah sorry, I'm still a bit tired, I didn't leave the hospital last night. But she's doing much better, really. Tsunade-sama wants her to rest a few days which I think will be harder for her then not working. She just got back to duty after her last mission and now she's on rest again." Her aunt did feel sympathetic, after having her over a few times before the night of the attempted kidnapping she had gotten to know the girl a bit and knew how happy she was to be getting back to work.

"Ah, well you told her about the restaurant right? Are you going to take her tomorrow then since that's when she'll be getting out?"

"Yes we told her, she of course protested but I told her not to worry about it." He felt himself smile remembering her flustered face and how she tried to turn him down.

"Of course not! It's the least we could do! If I could do more I would," she said pouting a bit.

"I know and it's not that she doesn't appreciate it, she just doesn't feel like she did anything more then what anyone else would have done. That's the kind of person she is. How is Kimiko doing?"

"Ah she slept with us last night, but thankfully no nightmares. I think she might be sleeping with us for another week or two but I think it's a good sign there are no nightmares. I really hope this doesn't affect her too much. She's always so happy and full of energy, some would say she doesn't seem like an Aburame at all," she said with a smile.

"Won't her sleeping with you put a umm..._strain_ on your current plans?" He couldn't help the blush on his face as he tried to ask the personal question, but his aunt just smiled.

"Actually no, we're already passed that part of the _plan._" She smiled knowingly and ran a hand across her stomach.

"You're already...?"

"Four weeks, Tsunade-sama checked me out while I was at the hospital with Kimiko, it was only a few days earlier then my appointment but she said the blood test came back positive, and they'll recheck it in a few weeks once the baby's heart starts beating." His aunt had a serene smile on her face.

"When it's heart starts beating?"

"Ah yes the heart doesn't start until around the 6th or 7th week and it's when the heart starts that it creates it's own chakra and any medic nin should be able to feel it at that point."

"That's really amazing, I'm really happy for you, what are you hoping for this time?" Even though he was a bit subdued by normal standards Shino was really excited, any birth in his clan was looked upon like a celebration.

"Hmmm, this might be kind of wrong but I was kind of hoping for another girl. There are so few in our family so even if it's a bit selfish that's what I'm hoping for."

"I'm sure Kimiko would love to have another little sister. So when are you going to announce it?"

"Well I'm going to wait until the chakra test to tell the clan and then wait until the 4th month for a formal announcement. Tsunade-sama's jutsu works miracles but I still want to wait to announce it to the village in case..." She trailed off and she didn't have to say anymore. He'd been with his parents the last time she miscarried, he was still young, just a child himself but he wished there was something he could do to help her pain even if he didn't understand the situation. Though when his clan had asked Tsunade about the treatment she said if they could make it through the first trimester they'd be out of the woods.

"Well make sure to rest well and take it easy, if Kimiko is too much of a handful my parents and I would always be willing to watch her." Even if he didn't notice himself his aunt saw the way his eyes seemed to shine with a happiness she'd only seen more of lately since Sakura had started coming around. He was a quiet young man but he was always sincere.

"Thank you Shino, I'll keep that in mind."

"I need to go soon, I still have to talk to mom and dad about the meeting."

"Wait, don't forget to say goodbye to Kimiko." He nodded and made his way up the stairs knocking on the ajar door before coming in seeing the little girl working meticulously on something.

"Kimiko, I need to go soon."

"W-wait, I'm almost done!" She continued fiddling with something in her hand before smiling and holding it out for him to see. It was a small beaded bracelet, the kind of kids crafts you could find in any store, little rainbow colored beads all around it, with one larger item standing out. There in the center was a pink Sakura flower encased in some kind of transparent yellow tinted glass, it didn't look like any of the other childish beads though. She handed it to him for inspection.

"Do you think nee-chan will like it?" He smiled down to the little girl who looked on with bated breath.

"I think she'll love it." He was rewarded with a bright grin. "But where did you get this flower?" On closer inspection it looked glossy but almost like a real flower, but as hard as a rock, like insects encased in Amber.

"It was a gift from mama to me. It's like those rocks with bugs trapped in it, but it's a flower, a _real_ flower." He looked closer at it and realized it was indeed cased in some kind of fossilized sap, but this seemed a bit too precise to be an occurrence of nature.

"Are you sure you want to give this up Kimiko? It was a present for you."

"It's one of my favorites but that's why I want to give it to Sakura nee-chan. She's so amazing! I don't have any gifts or anything I can buy her but I thought she might like that."

"Are you sure? I'm sure your mom would let you buy her something."

"No way! That is special to me so I want to give it to her." He tried not to sigh and wondered if the little girl would regret it later but for now he would take it.

"Ok well I have to go now, I'll make sure to give it to her when I see her tomorrow."

"Thank you Shino Onii-chan! Oh here," she said scrambling up and going over to her little desk. She grabbed a piece of paper off of it and ran over handing it to him. He picked it up and looked down to see a crudely drawn picture of three stick figures, two larger ones and a smaller one. Two of the figures (one big and little) were both done in dark colors, and one was completely done in pink. They all looked very happy, though there was something odd in between the two larger figures.

"Kimiko why don't you tell me what that is? I can't see it too good."

"That's your beetle silly," she said with a giggle. "It's you giving Sakura nee-chan one of your beetles." He felt heat rush to his face and had to fight to get the next words out though he was afraid of the answer.

"Why would you draw that Kimiko?"

"Because that's what you do when you get married!" She said it like it was the most matter of fact thing in the world and he tried not to think about the implications. It was an odd fact about his family he had been hiding from Sakura and one thing he had to explain as an accident to his father when he had asked for the vial of hormones before. He was hoping he could hide it until the beetle she currently had died and she wouldn't be as freaked out by it. It actually was tradition to exchange two female beetles when two members of the clan became engaged, or in the case of someone outside the clan, to have them take on a female beetle with their own chakra so as to always be linked. He was hoping to avoid the subject with Sakura for as long as possible just because he figured she might be both embarrassed and angry he hadn't mentioned anything about it before. At the time they weren't even dating and he was still unsure about his feelings so he left it as is, especially since she seemed ok with keeping the beetle. He was really hoping the beetle would just die off before anyone aside from his father found out. Even then his father kept insinuating things and asking about marriage plans, it really wasn't what he thought. Though at the same time he wasn't complaining...

"Onii-chan, you're daydreaming." He felt suitably chastised for spacing out while looking at her picture. "And you got this funny look on your face." And now he was blushing on top of it...at least only his little cousin saw, when it came to Sakura if felt like he could never get his head on straight.

"Sorry Kimiko, I'm just tired, I should be going." She leaned over extending her hands, and he did the same enveloping her in a hug. "Be good for your mom, she needs a lot of rest too."

"Huh? Is mommy sick?"

"No honey, but she's going to be pretty tired for a little while so be extra good for her ok?"

"Ok onii-chan." He left the room both picture and bracelet in hand, and went down to see his aunt again. He began putting on his shoes when he remembered the bracelet.

"Ne, Kimiko wanted me to give Sakura a present she made her but, I wasn't sure about it, this flower on it," he said trailing off, and showed her the bracelet with the lifelike blossom on it.

"Oh goodness, I'm surprised she's giving that to her."

"What is it? It looks like an actual flower but it's as hard as a rock."

"It technically is, it's fossilized, but not in the traditional sense."

"I thought so, it didn't seem like something that occurred in nature."

"No it's made from the same wax from bees, they have the bees cover it like they would their honey comb and then they use pressure and a justu to help the process along and it becomes much like amber. I don't remember the actual name for it, but even with the justu it takes almost 10 years to make. Tamaki got this for me for our wedding and I passed it on to Kimiko."

"Here then, you should keep it," he said trying to hand her the bracelet but she just shook her head.

"It is Kimiko's and if she really wants Sakura-san to have it then she should have it."

"But it's really important to you and your family."

"So is Kimiko," she said seriously. "Objects are only objects." He felt like he wanted to argue on it more but also didn't believe it would get him anywhere. Maybe Sakura would try and give it back once he told her? He once again said his goodbyes before heading for home, feeling still just as tired but less tense. He felt like that cup of coffee from earlier had done nothing. He was just turning the corner to go home when he bumped into someone, literally.

"Ah sorry, -Hisoka!" He was a little surprised to see his cousin. He hadn't seen him since the night of the meeting when Kimiko was almost kidnapped and even before then he hadn't seen him since their argument.

"Ah Shino, I just went to your house looking for you." For some reason he wouldn't look Shino in the eye and he didn't know what to make of his cousin's demeanor.

"I was just going to ask my parents about the meeting, since I stayed at the hospital I don't know how it turned out. Were they put off by what happened?" He was trying to stay on neutral territory, he didn't want to bring up Sakura lest it start a fight again.

"Actually no, it went better than expected. Before the incident they were still discussing terms and saying things like 'if' they agreed, but after what happened the 'ifs' turned into 'whens.' I think it might have something to do with Konoha, not just the clan, protecting it's people. As bad as the situation was it somehow turned out favorably for us." He sighed in relief, he really was worried they might just pack up and go after the incident.

"So have they had you meet the candidates?"  
"Yeah they have four of them, two are sisters, one is my age, the other a little younger. Then there are two others but I think they must be desperate, one of them is only 15, hell that's younger than you. I think they kept saying 'if' to try and gain some leverage but that changed pretty quickly."  
"What do you think of them?" His cousin looked a bit uncomfortable and he wasn't sure he should be bringing it up but he seriously wondered what his cousin might be feeling right now. He knew of his reluctance to an arranged marriage but also a resignment to this being the only way he might get married.

"Well the youngest is definitely out, that just feels like robbing the cradle. I think I might have to set up individual meetings with the rest to see how it goes. It's hard enough trying to get to know someone, but it's even harder when you only have a few options. But they're staying here for two weeks so I hope I can figure it out by then." His cousin really did look stressed and knew he was still a bit bitter and resentful about the whole situation, he could only hope one of the girls might be able to reach out to him, considering they were probably in a similar situation.

"Don't go into it looking for anything specific, just try and find someone who you can enjoy spending time with." He didn't know how his cousin would take his advice but he really did want him to be happy. Hisoka sighed and waved as if to continue on his way home when he spoke again, though he still wouldn't meet Shino's gaze.

"Shino, listen. I'm not saying I like her, but, I'm sorry for accusing Sakura of using you. She's a good kunoichi." 'Is he...complimenting Sakura?' "But don't think that means I like her," he quickly called out before continuing on his way. Shino sighed and felt a headache coming on. 'Seriously what does she have to do to get on his good side? But I guess his acceptance is a step in the right direction.' His cousin just seemed to be so damn stubborn, he was nearing his limit for stress for the day and he hadn't even made it home yet. 'If dad makes even one remark about a marriage proposal I'm just going to crash at Kiba's tonight.' He opened the door and scanned the room to notice his father was no where to be seen but his mother was in the kitchen cooking something.

"Ah Shino you're finally home. I was getting worried you might not come back, and you were going to move in with Sakura-san, though I wouldn't mind," she said and then quickly heard the door shut again. "Shino?" She looked around the corner to see her son had gone just as quickly as he came. "What did I say?"

While it was rare for him to randomly crash over at Kiba's house his friend still welcomed him. He poked and prodded at him to figure out why he was making a hasty retreat but all he could get from his normally quiet teammate was 'I just want rest.' It was kind of funny, but he kept it to himself and they had a nice night eating with his family and sharing a room as he brought out the extra futon. They would usually stay up and talk but he could see the exhaustion in his friends face and so let him lay down for some real deserved rest, but not before he got in one question.

"Shino...is it really worth it? I've never seen you so stressed, and I'm not just talking about today." He thought over his friends words, trying to come up with an acceptable answer. He thought about everything that had happened since she'd found him in the forest wounded and saved his life, and all they'd been through. The fighting with his cousin, the attempted kidnapping of Kimiko, and her being poisoned and hospitalized. Those things were aggravating, and frightening and he could do without those experiences. But then he thought over her dinner with his parents, Kiba's birthday party, her confession in the park, and the way she smiled when it was just the two of them and she would look him in the eyes... His heart was fluttering wildly despite how tired he was, and he could swear he felt her presence next to him even now and it soothed him and made him happy in a way he couldn't really describe. Even though most people would have thought at this point Shino wouldn't answer because of the long pause, Kiba knew his friend was thinking it over and wasn't disappointed in his answer.

"Yes, it's definitely worth it." Kiba couldn't help but smile at strength behind those words. He wasn't sure what to make of the relationship at first and wasn't sure if it was going to work, but whether he knew it or not Shino had changed since he had become close with the pink haired medic. He seemed a lot happier, and more lively, and when he was around her, he just seemed a lot warmer. Not that he'd ever let him know that though.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, Shino woke up fairly earlier the next day. He tried to be quiet and let Kiba sleep in, his friend probably didn't want to be woken at 7 AM unless he had to. He took a shower and put on some spare clothes he had stashed over here just in case. He was ready to go at a quarter to 8 and debated on waking his friend, but as selfish as it was he wanted to go see Sakura alone, and he decided it wouldn't matter since he'd be at the restaurant with them later. He left a note thanking him for letting him crash there and took off for the hospital.

He knew if he didn't get there soon she might leave before he got there, he still remembered the last time they were in the hospital together and how she had snuck out before breakfast. 'Hmmm...I don't have time to stop and buy some breakfast, but maybe I could make her breakfast.' A small unnoticeable smile came across his face as he jumped over the rooftops and quickly made his way back to hospital he'd been at less than 24 hours ago. He didn't even bother going through the ground floor doors, he went through an open hallway window on her floor and made his way down to her room. He heard movement and felt her chakra, however subdued, moving around in there so he knew she was awake. He opened the door, his mouth open with a greeting and stopped short, his face going red and his form frozen solid.

"S-shino! Hurry close the door!" He turned around and quickly did and stood there unsure if he should turn around. He had walked in on her half dressed, with only a bra and panties and her shorts halfway up her legs.

"S-sorry! I should have knocked." He was still facing the door away from her and he heard her shuffling behind him.

"It's fine, I just didn't want random people in the hall to see me," she said and came up behind him putting her arms around him. He felt his heart jump in his throat and had to wonder if she was still topless or not and didn't know what to do. Even though they had been intimate he was still kind of shy as this was new to him. Still he thought back to the night not too long ago when they'd been dancing around each other and knew not to be so shy, but that was easier said than done. He took a breath to shake off his shyness and turned around to return the hug and was actually a bit grateful and disappointed that she was now fully dressed. He wasn't sure about such conflicting emotions but she quickly pulled him out of his stupor with her lips on his. It was a chaste kiss that only lasted a moment but it was enough for him to push such thoughts from his mind and instead just be happy that she was here in front of him and she was safe again.

"Shino?"

"So you escaping again before breakfast gets here?" The look on her face told him he was right.

"It's not escaping, I'm signing out and everything," she said teasing.

"That's fine, I was planning on making breakfast for us anyway." The cute blush that spread across her cheeks and the smile that accompanied it was enough to melt his heart for the second time that day.

"Thank you, shall we go then?"

"Let's go."

AN: Just to let you know there will be another chapter or two of fluff and a bit of smut before the plot comes back (it needs time to plot and plan and other dastardly things). I wanted to do another chapter in his POV just because I've been mostly going from Sakura's POV for the last few chapters and I think it's fun getting in his head because he is so quiet. Also this chapter was a bit inspired from the background song to the Ladybug PV trailer. BTW Ladybug is an interesting looking joint effort anime that might be out next year, looks kind of cool, the trailer is on youtube for anyone interested.


	13. Life Continues

AN: Soooo sorry I took so long in updating. The main problem is I finally got a new job (yay), but it was 75 minutes away and I had to drive back and forth everyday and I worked 8:30 to 5 so I wasup and gone for 12 hours a day mon - fri. So tiring. Then I lost my job and am unemployed, trying to find work, and fend off debt collectors. Also this chapter was giving me MAJOR problems. I wanted to do a some fluff with them here and there and it was supposed to span 3 chapters. But when I went over it I thought that might get a bit boring writing three chapters of fluff, and if I think it's boring to write then it can't be any funner to read. So instead I came up with this, a longer chapter with flashbacks that have occurred over the last 3 months between them. I hope it's not confusing, I tried to go in time order for the flashbacks slowly leading up to the present. But I really wanted to get back to the plot of the story before it lost momentum, so I'm sorry about the long wait, hope it was worthwhile and thank you to everyone who kept me afloat with favorites and reviews! BTW with the reworking of the chapters I now have it down to a planning of 19 chapters, hopefully with this one out of the way the writers block will go as well and I can finish in March. Hopefully. Wish me luck!

Chapter notes: There is a part in here about Obon which is a festival honoring the dead in August. They celebrate the dead with a festival, cleaning garvestones, and at the end lighting lanterns and sending them down a river to guide the souls of the dead. Traditional clothing is Yukata (lightweight kimono). Men also sometimes wear Yukata or Hakama (traditional pants) and Haori (traditional tops).

Also since I started writing this fic before Kishimoto started the 4th war and the rising body count, the Konoha 12 are all alive though Sasuke wanders the lands searching for inner peace and so they are called the Konoha 11. Lastly I based Sakura's parents off the ones in the anime filler/Road to Ninja movie in which in this world they seem to be civilians.

Chapter 13: Life Continues

The sun was almost at the horizon making the shadows longer as the cool autumn night descended upon the village. The wind was chilling and foretold of a cold winter to come. 'Maybe we'll have some snow this year, that would be fun,' Sakura thought to herself as she quickly made her way up the stairs to her apartment. She let herself in and turned on the lights making her way towards her bedroom shedding her work clothes as she went. 'It'll be November soon, then December, and Christmas.' She blushed knowing she had a silly grin on her face at the thought. 'I wonder what I'll get him for Christmas?' She looked down to her chest at the small childish beads and one amber stone strung on a simple silver cord strung across her neck.

_ "S-shino," she gasped and he froze in the doorway to her hospital room, seeing her half dressed as she was getting her clothes on. "Hurry close the door!" He quickly did as he was told. She noticed he was still looking away from her and her embarrassment was soon replaced with a shy smile._

_ "S-sorry! I should have knocked."_

_"It's fine, I just didn't want random people in the hall to see me," she said as she finished getting into her normal outfit. Even though he had seen her naked plenty of times he still got a bit embarrassed, maybe it was because he wasn't sure he should look? She thought it was still cute. It was the day she was leaving the hospital finally after the Stone attack, and he wanted to pick her up and walk her home. She came up behind him putting her arms around him. It took him a minute before he would turn around and finally return her hug. He stared at her, looking like he was lost in thought._

_ "Shino?" That seemed to shake him out of his stupor as his gaze finally locked onto hers._

_"So you escaping again before breakfast gets here," he asked teasingly. She felt slightly embarrassed that he seemed to see see right through her plan, and she could tell her face gave her away._

_"It's not escaping, I'm signing out and everything," she said teasing back._

_ "That's fine, I was planning on making breakfast for us anyway." Well that hadn't been the answer she'd been expecting. She could feel her cheeks heat up and the image of him in an apron popped into her head._

_ "Thank you, shall we go then?"_

_ "Let's go." She did actually sign out of the hospital and just as they exited the building she reached her hand out to take his and noticed a blush on his face as he looked away. She could tell he wanted to say something but he didn't seem to have the words so she tried helping him out by breaking the ice._

_ "So Shino, what are we having for breakfast," she said with a smile._

_ "I...have no idea." She gave him a blank look and tried not to laugh. "What I mean is," he said trying to recover. "I didn't plan anything specific, I just wanted to walk you home and make sure you were alright. If you'd like I can leave after I make breakfast." He said it so straight forward and serious she was tempted to sigh but held back as she felt a small vibration on the back of her neck. It had taken a long time for her to get used to the beetle's antics and not try to smack it on instinct, but she had noticed it seemed to react more around Shino. 'I wonder if it has to do with the pheromone thing? I should ask him later.' _

_ "Shino," she called halting her actions and pulling him back by the entwined hands. "Don't be so shy, if you want to spend time with me today, just ask."_

_ "But you just got out of the hospital."_

_ "And am not allowed to do anything." She paused. "How about this," she said trying a different tactic. "Will you stay with me today Shino?"_

_ "I would like that very much," he said quickly. 'Seriously he's so determined during a fight, he should try and bring a little more of that out with me...wait that just sounded perverted.' She could feel her face start to heat up and shook her head to try and get her head back out of the gutter._

_ "Oh by the way I have something for you," he said and pulled something out of his jacket pocket. "It's a gift from Kimiko," he said placing it in the palm of her hand. She looked at the small bracelet and thought it was cute but then her fingers ran over the amber flower. _

_ "It looks so real."_

_ "It is real." She looked kind of amazed and held it up to the light in between her fingers. "It's a fossilized flower encased in beeswax."_

_ "Wow, I didn't know these things existed."_

_ "I didn't either, it takes almost 10 years to make one of those." Sakura felt herself almost gasp. "It was an heirloom, a wedding gift from her father to her mother._

_ "S-shino I can't take this!" She held the stone cradled in her hand like she was afraid she might break it._

_ "Kimiko wanted you to have it, I even asked my aunt and she said it was Kimiko's to do with as she pleased. Objects are only objects, but people are people." She felt complete awe wash over. They gave her something that meant so much, that was so precious to them. __**'Objects are only objects.'**__ Then again she had kept something precious of theirs safe and gave it back to them. She smiled softly._

_ "I can't wear bracelets, they usually get bloody or lost when I'm in the field," she said and saw how he looked almost disappointed, but hid it well behind his coat and glasses. "But, I'm sure I can make this into a nice necklace with a chain," she said putting it in her pocket for now until she could get home and properly fix it up._

_ "I'm sure Kimiko would like that," he said with a smile._

Sakura changed into some comfortable loose fitting clothes, throwing her dirty outfit in the clothes hamper only to have it roll out from the overflowing mess and sighed. 'I need to do laundry tomorrow.' She had done just what she said at the time, once getting home she did make it into a necklace and rarely ever took it off, even in the bath or shower. Shino had asked her about it once, asked her if she thought of it as some kind of good luck charm. 'Yeah something like that.' Really though she saw it as a bond, a promise to herself, to always look within. Otherwise she might not have seen Shino the way she saw him now. She still remembered the looks on everyone's faces at the BBQ later that same night.

_Shino had stayed with her the whole day even though they didn't really do much. They talked a bit, and she strung the bracelet into a necklace before they both made a breakfast together. Which led to them doing _other_ things together...poor Shino was still so shy but he was getting better at speaking his mind and letting himself just let go when it came to them. Which in turn led to a nap, oversleeping, and both of them waking up in a rush trying to get a shower in before going to the BBQ place. Shino warned her with Kiba's sense of smell he would know what they were up to if they didn't take a shower. It kind of grossed her out to think about it, and wondered just what Kiba did think about her and his best friend. Thankfully they still made it on time, but only barely._

_ It was the first time in a while that all 11 of them had gotten together, apparently team Gai specifically asked for a week off so they could see her after they heard about the attack. Everyone was happy to see her and asked how she was doing. She leaned over and covered Shino's hand with hers, just seeking his warmth for whatever reason and half of the large table went still, and then the noise began. She and Shino had come clean with their teammates but even though they weren't hiding it not everyone apparently knew about them, though some like Ino had suspected. Which led to all kinds of questions about things neither of them really wanted to answer. Poor Lee looked like he'd just gotten the rug pulled out from under him but apparently he was more upset over the fact they hadn't outright competed for her hand in some kind of competition. And she had to stop Lee and Shino when Shino said he would readily agree to a challenge if that is what it took._

_ Thankfully the conversation eventually went back to what everyone was doing, how their families were, etc. She even found out quietly from Shino apparently Naruto had asked Hinata here tonight as his date. I kept sneaking glances at them which seemed to embarrass Naruto (that in itself was telling). But I decided to leave it for now so I didn't spoil Hinata's date, I was so happy for her._

_ Though at some point the conversation ended up going back to the attack the other night. The discussion was mainly on what was to be done with Stone. As soon as she heard what had happened Tsunade had leapt into action and had Shizune send a messenger hawk immediately to Stone and politely (as polite as a pissed off Kage could be) asked __**what the hell was going on!**__ They had received a response quickly stating they had no idea, they had no involvement, and the clan had to have been working on it's own. They still didn't know if that was true, but their official statement was pretty much throwing the clan under the bus so to speak. They tried to contact the clan directly, and sent a copy to the Tsuchikage as well to pass along in case the clan wanted to pretend they hadn't received it. They had received a mixed response in return, a message from the clan head saying he didn't know what was going on and planned no such attack. Really they were kind of at an impasse until they got a better answer. They didn't want to, and couldn't declare war on Stone, at least not if the Tsuchikage was claiming to know nothing and saying it was a clan problem, at least if they wanted to keep the __peace. In which case they had to make contact with the clan and if necessary go through the Tsuchikage for persecution, which probably wasn't going to happen. Overall it looked like unless they set foot in Fire country again nothing was going to happen, which pissed Tsunade off to hell and back. _

_ Thankfully the conversation became a lot more light and happy as the food was finished (mostly by Choji and Naruto as they fought over the last bits of meat). Shino was nice enough to walk her home after even though they received a few cat calls for it. At her door he seemed like he didn't want to go, but really she was exhausted and promised him he could come by tomorrow if he was worried. So with a kiss at her door he left for home and she was finally alone. She made it to her bedroom before tossing off her clothes, crawling under her blankets, and staring at the ceiling for about 10 minutes before she finally broke down crying. She wasn't some weak little girl, but when something like this happens __**in the village (her home!)**__, and knowing if not for her that little girl would have been long gone somewhere in another country right now crying and afraid. It made her angry enough to cry. But they weren't just tears of anger. She had really thought she might die that night, and it might have happened if not for finding help so quickly. It wasn't the first time she had almost died, and it wouldn't be the last. She found letting herself have a good cry by herself every now and then helped alleviate the stress. After feeling like she'd cried most of her stress out she felt tired and relieved and rolled over to sleep, a small beetle crawling it's way across her shoulder._

She made her way into the kitchen putting the kettle on the stove and turning it on before turning to pull a mug and teabag out and waiting for the whistle of the kettle. The conversation from that night about Stone came back to her. Since the initial response from Stone they had replied and gotten conflicting and confusing responses in return. One a week after their initial reply they wrote back saying they were having inner clan turmoil and it was a few individuals working on their own, then they wrote back stating they knew nothing about it, then the last reply they received from the clan had been them trying to say that it was an order under the Tsuchikage. Unfortunately they had been running in circles and when trying to get information from the Tuschikage he put up a fight and wanted nothing to do with any of it. 'Stubburn old goat.' Speaking of stubborn...

_She remembered just how stubborn Shino had been after she had gotten out of the hospital. Tsunade had given her a whole month off, which she protested, but lost against her Shishou. She told her she had to rest up for two weeks and then she could begin taijutsu training only. She wasn't allowed to touch her chakra for a whole month this tme. She thought she might get kind of bored or lonely, but Shino, in his own special way, took care of that, by requesting a leave of absence for the whole month as well. To say Sakura was shocked was an understatement. A week, maybe two she thought, but he was taking the whole month off. She was worried he still felt guilty about what happened but he reassured her he just wanted to make sure she was ok. She had been in the hospital a few too many times as a patient the last month for him not to worry. She was pretty sure it was a lie, but when it came down to it he was just as stubborn and hard headed as her so she agreed but told him they could only see each other at most four times a week. _

_ It's not that she didn't want to spend time with him, but she was also afraid if she gave in completely it would be like her reaffirming his guilt. OK, that was one of the reasons, the other was for some reason since that first night together her hormones had kicked into gear and she was trying desperately to get them under control so she didn't jump him __**every time**__ she saw him. Just every other time...that was a really kinky two weeks. Her team really did have some kind of perverted curse on them. Thankfully once she was able to do taijutsu it seemed to help with some of the tension. It was about that time that they also got to go to celebrate Obon together._

_ She was lucky in a way, her parents weren't shinobi and of the Konoha 11 none of her friends had died. Well not permanently at least thanks to Naruto and Pain. She and her parents cleaned the family grave site for her grandparents; it was also about the time she finally got to tell them she was dating Shino. Her mother was kind of strict saying she might be better off not getting involved with clans but her father just laughed it off and made a god awful joke which put her mother more at ease. It still amazed her how different her parents were and yet they fit together so well. Her mother said she had to bring him over to meet them soon and knew it wasn't a request. She still remembered the last day of Obon, the lantern festival. It was one of her favorite summertime memories. _

_ Everyone was going together in a big group so those without dates wouldn't feel so alone. The girls had decided to meet up at Ino's (since she had the larger living area) and help each other get ready. Hinata had a modest dark blue yukata with white and yellow fireflies dancing across it and her hair pulled back in a bun with dark blue sticks. Ino was wearing a warm red, pink, and yellow with white circles reminiscent of fireworks across her yukata and wore her hair down in a loose ponytail. They were all pretty surprised when Tenten brought a dark blue yukata with dark red lotus flowers printed across it which made her look extremely feminine. Instead of two buns she wore her hair in a high ponytail with a small red comb with a lotus in her hair. Sakura had always worn bright colors but decided to go with darker ones this year. She wore a medium blue yukata with dark purple and red butterflies across it, she was able to pull enough of her short hair together to pull it into a messy knot on the top of her head with a pink comb holding it in place._

_ They made it down to the festival fairly quickly and found the men, all dressed in plainer yukata of various darker earthy tones. All except Naruto who wore a bright orange and red yukata that just screamed his name. She remembered the blush on her face though when he saw Hinata. Apparently the 'not date' at the BBQ had gone well enough and this was technically their third date (their second being an impromptu Ichiraku date the week before that Naruto had asked her to). She really was happy for those two, she just hoped Naruto didn't screw it up. _

_ They all had a fun time; they ate food and played games. She remembered how Naruto had sucked so badly at the goldfish netting game and Hinata tried to cheer him up by using a water jutsu to create a ball of water with one of the goldfish trapped inside it. Instead of being mad the stand owner just laughed and bagged it for her saying that required more skill then netting the thing. She later found out Hinata had named the fish 'Ramen.' _

_ It had gotten dark and they all got lanterns together to release. She felt bad for Naruto who had so many people to pray for but knew in their own way they were all watching over him. As they all set them out on the riverbank to let them go she waded out a few feet in the small river, and of course being the awesome ninja she was, she slipped and plunging head first into the river. She sputtered sitting up now drenched and chilly despite the warmth of the summer air. She could hear the snickers and laughter from her friends and couldn't help but laugh along and the ridiculousness of it all. It was a moment later she saw a hand held out in front of her and smiled as she took Shino's hand and he helped her to the riverbank. She looked over to see her lantern had apparently fared better than her and was making its way down river. She got out trying to ring out her yukata but it attempted to stick her her like a second skin. _

_ Then she felt something warm and dry draped across her frame and looked over to see Shino in just his Hakama with his Yukata covering her, him being bare from the waist up for all to see. She was sure everyone's mouth had dropped at that point and she could feel her face heating up to an unbearable degree. _

_ "T-thank you."_

_ "Careful or you'll catch cold and you'll be on rest longer than another two weeks," he said it matter of factly but by the small smile and slight tint of red on his cheeks she knew it was his own way of saying 'you're welcome.' She stepped out and made her way to a bathroom where she quickly changed out of her wet yukata and put on his slightly damp one (thankfully she had worn her underwear and black shorts underneath her yukata), though if you didn't know the shorts were there it looked scandalous. She made her way back out and got more then a few gasps._

_ "Calm down I have my shorts on, see," she said flashing them her shorts and getting strange looks from people passing wondering what she was doing._

_ "Sakura that is so not ladylike," Ino moaned. _

_ "I can't help it, mine is soaked. Aren't you cold Shino," she asked the pale bare chested boy._

_ "I'm fine, the night is warm." They turned suddenly as the fireworks display started. They didn't have the best viewing spot, but it was still a site to see. She looked over at Shino to see him staring at her and he blushed at getting caught. She smiled and took his hand in her own and leaned against him. Regardless of what he said, his skin felt cool to the touch. They looked back at the fireworks never even aware of Hinata snapping a picture of the two._

Sakura pulled the kettle off the burner as it started whistling and poured it in the coffee mug dipping the tea bag around a few times and stirring it with a spoon. She walked out into the living room flopping down on her couch to look outside at the night sky. She looked to her left on the side table and smiled at the candid picture of her and Shino at the festival. It was one of her favorite memories. As reclusive as he was he was willing to open up for her. And it seemed like she was giving him just as much of her, sometimes she thought too much.

_Two weeks had came and went since the festival, and with it went Shino. He hadn't left __**her **__of course, but he had went back to missions. She knew he was going back on missions, and back when he told her he was taking time off she knew it wasn't a big deal and he would have to start taking them again soon. She didn't know if it had been because they had been spending so much time together, or if it was the fact that she was still off missions, but she felt restless and worried. Now she knew how her parents felt being civilians and waiting at home for her, almost helpless._

_ She wasn't helpless, and in fact just a few days after he left Tsunade told her she could start using her chakra again. Though for some reason her chakra seemed reluctantly, like her last examination Tsunade said it seemed like her chakra was slightly off and so Sakura finally had to come clean about the beetle. Instead of being angry her shishou almost died of laughter, and even offered to share a glass of sake with her for being so accepted by the 'family.' She still didn't remember if she was more mad or embarrassed in that whole situation. Still Tsunade said since she wasn't born into that family and wasn't actually a 'host,' that it was the beetle that was most likely messing with it and as long as she didn't feel like I was overtaxing herself I should be fine. Sakura was put back on hospital duty saying, Tsunade still wanted her to take two weeks reacquainting herself with her chakra again before she sent her out on missions. Especially since lately she had been taking a lot of solo missions dealing with outbreaks and healing._

_ Sakura tried to keep busy at work and retraining her body but at the end of each day she wondered where he was and what he was doing. She knew it was stupid, hell it's not like he was the first guy she had ever dated, but for some reason it felt different. At times it worried her, but other times she just shrugged it off and said it was fine. It wasn't long before her two weeks was up and she got a mission, she was given a night to pack and get ready to leave first thing in the morning. Sakura was packed, showered, and about to jump into bed, when there was a knock on her door. Shino looked no worse for wear then when he left, though he seemed tired. Apparently he had gotten in, given his mission report, and came straight to her apartment. Needless to say she got teased horribly the next day at the gate when she ended up later then even Kakashi usually was. But It couldn't be helped, after all those weeks of worrying, she had to welcome him home. In fact it wasn't until she was about two miles from the gate that she realized while she did say a quick goodbye she had actually left him in her house naked and wrapped in her sheets. She was at least thoughtful enough to have pulled down the shades for him (a new set she had bought specifically for blocking out the light...just in case)._

_ Her mission went without a hitch, she went to a town about 2 days away to help out with the difficult induction and childbirth of a villager and made it back in less than a week, only to get her own welcome home when she walked in the door. Thankfully she found out he didn't stay there the whole time, but he had left beetles at the gate to let him know when she arrived home. She would have been more upset about him inadvertently stalking her, but she was too happy to see him to care._

She blew on her hot tear sipping it quietly enjoying the warm feel of the liquid on the back of her throat. It was getting to be flu season and the warmth seemed to chase the chill in her body away. It was rare she got sick even though she was a medic, there were a few herbal remedies and a couple of jutsu for controlling her body that helped boost her immune system around cold and flu season. She couldn't afford to get sick. She smiled thinking back to how indignant Shino had been when he'd gotten sick just two months ago at the end of August.

_It was the last week of august, the air while still warm had cooled down to an average of 70 during the day and 60 at night. It was a night after her shift at the hospital and he was in the village, and she had something special planned for him. She didn't tell him much, just asked him to meet her at her apartment right around sunset. He seemed a bit put off for the secretiveness but she assured him he would like it, and he trusted her enough to show up promptly at sundown. _

_ She grabbed a gym bag she had packed earlier and they set off for the outskirts of the village and out of the gates. Shino seemed a bit nervous and asked her again where they were going but she didn't want to spoil the surprise. Though eventually he seemed to get an idea as to where they were going when the sound of running water caught their attention. She walked up to a tree near the riverbank and set the bag down before pulling off her shirt and shorts to reveal a sporty bathing suit top and boy shorts. He had mentioned before how he had occasionally went swimming with his teammates at night when the light wasn't as harsh on him and she thought it might be a fun way to officially end the summer together. _

_ He seemed a bit unsure but she pulled out a pair of swim trunks she had bought for him and told him to change. He seemed a bit nervous with her watching him so she turned around and walked into the river shivering at the cooler water rushing around her body. She took a breath and dove in coming up gasping as the cool water chilled her body. She turned around as she heard him entering the river. He was stripped of everything except the swimming trunks, even his glasses were gone. He seemed a bit put out at being so revealed outside but she waded over and took his hand and the apprehension seemed to vanish in an instant. _

_ They had some fun splashing around in the river, he apparently took to water like a fish and they had fun trying to dunk each other but in the end it turned into something else all together. It had started with her grabbing for him to try and force him under the water again, and he tried to grab her to toss her away and instead his hand grabbed a hold of her bottoms and pulled a bit too hard pulling them half off her hip. They were both a bit embarrassed and kind of froze mid play fight. Then the next thing she knew her shorts were gone, her top was twisted around her neck, and he was sitting in __the shallower part of the river with her astride him gasping his name. Thankfully he was too caught up in the moment to worry about anyone coming across them (which would have been odd at this time of night anyway). Though he was so thoroughly embarrassed after about doing something like that out in the open she apologized. Though she did intend to have a good time with him that night, she wasn't specifically trying to have a __**good time**__ with him that night. _

_Even though he was embarrassed it was a while before they left the water. They sat together nude in the water like a couple of water nymphs listening to the sounds of the river: the frogs, the crickets, the water rustling against the reeds and lapping at the river bank. He swears to this day he didn't do anything, but the way the fireflies seemed to drift over the river and came together in a cluster of blinking lights over the area, she was pretty sure it wasn't just a coincidence. It was nice and relaxing and helped her not think about all the drama that had taken place over the summer._

_ They had split up in the middle of town to go back to their respective homes, but the next day she went to see him she had been surprised to find out he had _somehow_ come down with a cold. His mother thought it was odd since it wasn't that cold out. She had fought valiantly not to blush when she figured it was probably her fault he was sick. Splashing around and doing _other things_ in the river at night had caught him a temp of 100.3 and three days in bed, in which she came by every day to nurse him back to health, as he told her later "It's only fair right?" Smug sexy asshole!_

She glanced at the clock on the wall noticing how the time was slowly dragging on, she sipped the last of her lukewarm tea before setting the empty mug on the table in front of her, careful of the unfurled scrolls on the table. Her eyes narrowed at the printed words and quickly turned away to look out the window instead. Unfortunately while the drama of the summer temporarily faded in the back of her mind, it wasn't gone for good.

_It was barely a week after their little interlude in the river and her nursing him back to health, she was feeling content working at the hospital, going on sporadic missions, and seeing Shino as much as she could in between. Then she got the call from Tsunade that she waned to see her in her chambers ASAP. She thought maybe it was some kind of medical emergency mission, they were rare but she was occasionally sent on them. So she was surprised when she entered the room to not only find Tsunade but Shino, Shibi, and Kanoko there as well. Considering everyone who had been called she knew what this was regarding._

_ Tsunade explained she had finally gotten an official response from the Tsuchikage after all the bluster he was giving them. Apparently the rug had been pulled out from under him in this situation and all the stalling was to find out what the hell was going on. He admitted to finally having to march down to the clans compound to get an answer. Apparently they were in fact having fertility problems like they suspected, but being the clan was older and more set in their ways the refused to ask for help from Konoha, but kidnapping members of their village and the Aburame clan, that was acceptable. After thorough investigation the Tsuchikage found out it wasn't the entire clan, but the head of the clan controlling the shots and was leading the kidnapping. Though apparently since the night they left for the attack on Konoha they had not yet returned. _

_ Meaning that they were still out there somewhere, waiting, and possibly preparing for another attack. The Tsuchikage pledged to keep an eye on the clan for any communication with the head and others who had went with him. He would not let them continue with this after the carefully held together peace they had following the war. Unfortunately even though the five great Shinobi nations were at peace there were older clans with grudges against other villages and clans. Not that the grudges weren't justified, it takes years and even decades sometimes to erase the stains of war left behind. _

_ They had discussed options at that point about what to do. The Tsuchikage was going to watch on his end, but they weren't sure what they were trying to accomplish. If they were going to kidnap a child and try to bring it back to their clan, someone would notice. Though they could attempt to pass her off as an orphan and have a close family adopt her, without anyone knowing the wiser until later. Even that seemed implausible since the moment the head returned he would be turned over to Konoha for his crimes. Unless of course he was trying to play a martyr and didn't care if he was punished for his crimes as long as he got what he wanted. _

_ And to top it off there was another message sent with the Tsuchikages from the clan itself begging for forgiveness and trying to explain their plight. The younger women in their clan had all been miscarrying and giving birth to stillborns for the last eight years. The last live birth was eight years ago and it was so premature it died within the week. They explained their desperation and begged for the rest of the clan to be forgiven and pardoned for what their head had done. _

_ Of course the Hokage felt the faction that had split from the clan and was attempting the kidnapping was too big of a threat to be left alone and she was going to place an ANBU guard on Kimiko's family, especially since her mother was again with child. It might be easier to kidnap a pregnant woman than a child. Unfortunately Kimiko's mother while being part of their clan was not a trained Kunoichi, she had basic training from the clan but at best she was at the level of a genin. _

_ The other thing was their response to the clan. Tsuande said she was leaving it up to them whether or not they would forgive them, and if not then what action was to be taken against the clan. Considering the Tsuchikage sent their message with his they were reading it as he was leaving their punishment in Konoha's hands. Shibi said they would have to discuss it with the rest of the clan, and specifically Kimiko's family since they were the ones directly involved._

_ There was another issue of them wondering if Sakura needed a guard since she was the one to initially thwart their plan. After a lot of discussion (and yelling on her part), they decided she would not have an ANBU guard. She was not a part of the clan (yet, or at least that was what Kanoko seemed to cough in her hand), and they doubted the clan even knew who she was. That still didn't seem to make Shino feel any better but Sakura didn't want a guard, it made her feel like they thought her helpless. They were then dismissed by Tsunade and left to their own devices to think on the situation. Though she was surprised when Shibi asked her to come to the clan meeting regarding the situation. When she tried to argue she wasn't a part of the clan (which she noticed the sly look Kanoko was giving her out of the corner of her eye) they said she was directly involved as someone who was there that night._

_ They had the meeting quickly pulled together for the next night. The clan seemed fairly angry when talking about the kidnapping but was thankful the Tsuchikage was taking action and responsibility for the clan. They were slightly off put to have to have ANBU guarding their compound (some argued it made their clan seem weak). But they couldn't keep their guard up 24/7, not in their own home. It would wear on them and eventually drive them to exhaustion, so the ANBU would help to cover them. They hoped to quickly find and dispatch the clan faction so they could continue their normal lives, but they understood the danger as well._

_ When it came to the scroll from the other clan she was kind of surprised they dismissed everyone but Kimiko's parents. They said since it was specifically them who had been wronged they should have the final say in the matter. They let them read the letter and discussed the pros and cons, and in the end asked for some time to think it over, it was a large decision and many lives were in the balance here. She was amazed at their resilience. Even after their daughter was almost kidnapped they were willing to hear out the clan and possibly forgive them, she always seemed to surprised when it came to the Aburames, they always exceeded her expectations._

She sighed looking over the information again. It was information from the clan in Stone. Eventually Kimiko's parents decided to forgive them, they understood the pain and desperation in the clan and had even asked if after they captured the rogue faction if Tsunade could help them with their fertility problems. Being as Tsunade was the Hokage _she_ couldn't leave the village to help them and didn't want to just hand over the information as it was. So Sakura was studying the information and procedures, and once the rogues had been captured she was to go to the village for approximately three months or until a healthy conception had occurred and stay until the end of the first trimester. She picked up one of the scrolls her eyes skimming over the information. Apparently the most dangerous time was during the first trimester and after that the risk of problems was less than 10% and it would be safe for them to rely on their own medics for the rest of the pregnancy. She smiled rolling the parchment up and setting it on the side table. Even now her shishou still amazed her with her medical prowess and she could only hope to continue in her footsteps when she finally retired. It was funny, it was actually right after her meeting that she had been invited to a party...more specifically Kimiko's birthday party,

_She was kind of surprised in light of the meeting and all the seriousness of just a few moments ago that Kimiko's parents were now all smiles and all but begging her to come to her party. Shino was right when he told her the little girl now seemed to idolize her, and she couldn't help but to agree to go to the party. She even offered to bake the cake, since she seemed to remember the little girls fondness for strawberries. She made a strawberry flavored cake she had the perfect recipe for, it was one of her favorites. She even remembered how Shino volunteered to help her, though somehow half the ingredients ended up on them instead and then they ended up getting it everywhere: on the floor, on the counter, in her bed... Anyway it took them two tries before the cake finally came out._

_ They arrived at the party and Sakura's legs were immediately assaulted by the smiling now five year old who wanted to show her around to all her friends and proclaimed this was __**her**__ Sakura. She then was dragged by the smaller girl into the other room and introduced to all the other children. There weren't too many but there was a young Inuzuka girl, a young Hyuga boy (branch house by the bandage on his head), and two other children who she either didn't recognize as being in a clan or were civilians. She then handed her mother the cake and her present and went with Shino to sit near Kimiko's mother. _

_ She was a petite woman to begin with so her baby bump was still barely showing if you really looked. She was happy to chat about it though, even bringing out the ultrasound, they'd just been told a week earlier they were having a little boy and Kimiko was ecstatic about being a big sister and having a little brother. Sakura couldn't help but smile as she looked over at the little girl so full of happiness and energy. She couldn't help but hope in another couple of years she'd have her own little girl looking at her with brown hair and bright green eyes.' Or maybe soft brown eyes,' she thought sneaking a look to her left at Shino. She felt her cheeks flush but didn't fight it and instead found herself smiling at him, though he didn't seem to understand why he returned her smile the same._

_ The party went without a hitch, the children playing games with the birthday girl and eventually they all came together to sing happy birthday and let her blow out the candles. Her mother asked her what she had wished for, and even she was surprised when she said she wanted to be the best big sister ever and teach her little brother everything. She saw her mother's eyes water but smiled and kissed her daughter saying that was a great wish and she knew it was going to come true. _

_ They then quickly moved on to the gifts in which the little girl tore into the presents. There was paper everywhere and the girls mother had trouble trying to control the mess as she opened them one by one. She saw all the toys and even a few practice kunai thrown in (apparently she had asked to be enrolled in the shinobi academy and was starting next year since her birthday was so late in the year). She was kind of concerned about her present, it might be a bit boring for a five year old. The girl finally got to her present and opened it up and was surprised by how happy the girl was over the small cherry blossom necklace and even that she asked her mom to put it on her._

_ "You know that necklace was a gift my mom gave to my dad, she said it reminded her of him." Of course there was the question of why and she had to laugh. "Because I actually get my pink hair from my dad, not my mom." That ended up in a frenzy of 'wows', and 'really?', and 'no ways!' It was always funny when she told people of the origin of her oddly colored hair. "Yes and when I became a genin my dad gave it to me as a good luck charm to keep me safe, since you gave me your necklace I thought you might like one as well." The little girl seemed so stunned, like she had just been given something extremely important. The girl launched herself at Sakura and hugged her telling her she would definitely keep it safe since it was from 'Sakura-neechan!'_

She smiled at the memory and got up with her now empty mug, she tossed the tea bag in the trash and rinsed the mug off in the sink setting it in the drying rack. She glanced over at her fridge and smiled at the two childish pictures on the fridge drawn by non other then Kimiko. One was from when she was in the hospital, and the other was a picture of her and Kimiko and a large sakura flower in between them she had gotten a few days after the girls birthday. She then looked over to the box of matches next to the fridge and realized she had yet to light her jack-o-lantern. She grabbed the box and went outside stooping down to light the candle nestled in the small pumpkin. It was still a few days before Halloween but she always liked getting in the mood for this holiday. Costume, pumpkin carving, fake spider webs on her windows, the works. She was kind of surprised to find out so was Shino.

_It was the first week of October and she was already in the Halloween spirit. This year she had decided to go as a pirate, with an eye patch and fake parrot and all. She just needed to get the costume together. Shino had happened to ask her what she was planning on doing the next day and when she told him he asked if he could come with. She said it was no problem, and instead of going to the local costume shop he took her to a second hand thrift shop. When she asked 'why here?' he just looked at her with that mischievous grin that always brought a flush to her face and said 'you'll see,' and he was right._

_ Within the hour they found enough second hand clothing and items to merge together two different pirate outfits. He __**just happen**__ to decide a pirate was a good idea, but she didn't mind, he did make a good looking pirate. He ended up with a billowy white shirt, a dark blue bandana, a pair of brown costume short pants that tied in the front instead of button, and a peg leg. She had found an old costume corset (which she would have to adjust a bit), a white billowy tank top, a pair of blue Capris that she could tear up a bit, an eye patch, and a red bandana. She had mentioned in passing while looking for costumes how he should find some fake earrings, but the few they found didn't hold well. He asked if she had her ears pieced and she said no but this might be a good time to get it done, Ino was always saying she should so she could borrow some of her earrings. _

_ After the shopping trip she had decided to go and look for a good pumpkin even if she wasn't going to carve it just yet, she didn't want it to rot before Halloween. One the way they happened to pass a tattoo/piercing shop. To most civilians the shop might look intimidating, for shinobi it was just another shop with pointy things meant to go into/through people. She decided to get two studs in each ear and another in the top cartilage on her left so she could get the ones that had a chain that attached them. She told Shino to wait a moment and went in the back. One, two, three, and she sat up with three new piercings, just little silver studs but she thought they looked cute. She went out to get Shino and was surprised he was gone. She asked the receptionist where he had went and she just pointed behind her where Shino came out with a slightly redder left ear with a pure black stud in his lower lobe. She was shocked and was pretty sure it showed on her face when he came up and said "What? The fake earrings were never going to work." She couldn't help it when she started laughing, that was such Naruto logic she couldn't help it. _

_ They continued on to the little farm near the edge of the village where they usually had a whole patch of pumpkins for this time of year. She ended up getting one large one to carve and three smaller ones to paint on so she could have something on her window sill right away. Shino got three large ones, apparently his parents were also fairly big into carving pumpkins. He said his mother had already started working on a spider outfit for Halloween. For some reason she felt bad knowing it would just make the poor woman slightly more creepy to the village. Overall the impromptu date was extremely fun and she felt like she got to know just a little bit more about him. _

She made sure to blow out the match and was just starting to step back into her apartment when something caught her eye and made her stop. She waited a moment as someone approached her door, and was relieved to see it was one of the chunin messengers the Hokage had with her as of late. He gave a small bow before taking a scroll out of his pouch and handing it to her.

"From Hokage-sama, she wanted to get you this information and meet with her around eight tomorrow." She accepted the message and gave a bow back thanking him for the message before stepping back in and plopping down on the couch, opening the scroll as she did so. Her eyes skimmed the page for a moment and then widened before slowly reading it over from the top taking everything in:

_Sakura I have unfortunate news. Even though the ANBU guarding the Aburame's have not seen any activity I recently received multiple reports from three different teams stating there were signs of ninja only 20 miles or so from the village and one even reported catching site of the group. They recognized the Stone headband and took down their descriptions, and from the information we've gathered it seems like it's the missing clan faction from Stone. They tried to keep track of their movements but two of the teams just happened to find the sitings on the way back from different missions. The one other team tried tracking them but lost their trail at some point._

_ We've sent a message to the rest of the clan in Stone asking for information on any abilities they might have. I'm hoping their guilt will override their want to keep their jutsus secret, but we don't know exactly what we're dealing with here. I am planning on putting a team together in the near future to try and pursue them. Considering there use of poisons last time I believe having you on the team would help. While I am wary of sending an Aburame with the team they might be better equipped to fight against such an enemy, so I have also sent a similar scroll to Shibi asking him to suggest someone to send out. We're still gathering intelligence but I would like to have a meeting with you and the potential team I am assembling tomorrow at eight in the morning._

_Tsunade_

She sat there stunned reading it over again just to make sure. 'They've been this close to the village this whole time and no one has found them yet!' This was very disturbing. Considering they didn't know even half of what they could do with their clans abilities it was possibly there was some way they were able to make it so not even ANBU could track them. But it would make sense then to send an Aburame. With their beetles they might be able to still track them or counteract their justu or abilities. 'But still...' It was extremely dangerous. They were wanting an Aburame anyway, specifically children or women from what they could tell, but that didn't mean they wouldn't take what they could get.

'Why the hell are they even still trying? Their clan has given up on them, the Tsuchikage would turn them over in a minute if they tried going back to Stone. What are they playing at here?' She sighed and felt the tightness in her neck, and just after she finished unwinding too. Maybe even if he wasn't going to be on the team they should get Shikamaru's input. If they could try and figure out just what they planned on doing if they did kidnap someone they could find them easier. She looked over at her clock to see it was almost passed 10 and sighed. She decided to take a long soak in the bath and get to bed so she could try and get up in time for the meeting. That was all she needed was to be late.

She was just pulling on her pajamas after her long soak when there was a knock on her door. 'Hmm, what's with all the late night visitors today?' She looked down at the large t-shirt and long sweats she was wearing and shrugged 'It's too late for me to care who sees me like this.' She went to the door and was surprised to sense Shino on the other side, and quickly opened the door.

"Shino what are you doing here so late?" He was about to reply but then fully took in her appearance and she noticed him staring.

"Ah sorry is this a bad time? You look ready for bed."

"Ah it's fine, come in." She stepped aside so he could come in and let him lead the way to her couch where they both sat down. "Want something to drink?"

"Ah no it's fine," he looked to her coffee table and noticed a half open scroll. "I see you also got a summons from Tsunade." She sighed and knew with him being Shibi's son and already so involved of course he would find out.

"Yeah, it's kind of depressing. To know they've been so close for who knows how long. And even though there are signs of them ANBU hasn't been able to track them down. But at least ANBU are still guarding the compound, even though I know your clan isn't too fond of that."

"It's a necessity. My clan will not let pride get in the way of protecting our family. If ANBU are necessary until we can deal with them than that is something that we must endure." He was so serious, it was almost like the version of him she knew last year, so intense and quiet, and to the point. She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's ok, they can't wait forever, something's going to give and we'll catch them. Right now they're between a rock in a hard place. Waiting to try and get their target, but even if they do they have no where to go. I was actually thinking of asking for Shikamaru to step in and give us his incite on that. If we could figure out what they were planning exactly we might be able to get a step ahead."

"It sounds like a good plan, but..." She watched how his face seemed so tight and frustrated. "Sakura...are you planning on being on the team?"

"Huh? Of course, Tsunade-sama asked me. And after last time when they used a paralysis poison it's imperative a medic is on the team."

"I don't mean for this to come out the wrong way but...I'm worried about you." He took another moment to try and mull over his words before continuing. She silently counted to 10 to try and reign in her anger at the comment hoping he had more to say than that. "I know you're a kunoichi and you handled yourself admirably before, and you are more than sufficiently prepared to do this mission. But after last time...I can't help but be worried." She silently let go of the anger and gave a small smile and squeezed his shoulder. She knew she should be mad about him not wanting her to go on the mission, but it was kind of hard to be mad when he also told he he was confident in her abilities. She understood that feeling, thinking back to August when he started retaking missions again and her own insecurities.

"Shino I appreciate the concern, but someone has to do this. I promise I will keep my guard up at all times. I will come back to you." He sighed but some of the tension seemed to ease out of him as well.

"Very well then, my mind is made up."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I will be accompanying you on the mission."

"HUH?"

"My father asked for volunteers after reading the message from Tsunade, I volunteered but he was reluctant to let me go. I told him if you were also on this mission I was not going to let you go alone." She was now torn between thinking how cute it was and wanting to smash him against the wall. How could he so easily bring out such contradictory emotions in her? Apparently he understood this as well as he scooted a few inches away on the seat even though her hand was still on his shoulder.

"I-I mean I was reluctant to let anyone else from my clan go when the safety of the team is so important." She glared at him just slightly. "My father and I are two of the strongest in our clan and with the safety of the team being so important and my father being unable to go I must now definitely volunteer." Though the death glare disappeared he could still feel subtle annoyance coming from her and decided to switch tactics.

"Sakura, how long have we been dating now?"

"Huh?" She seemed a bit caught off guard by the question and had to stop and think a moment. "Let's see it's the 29th of October so not quite 4 months yet. Why?" He took a deep breath and seemed to be debating on how next to rephrase what he wanted to say. It seemed to be important to him so she waited letting him get himself together.

"I know," he started. "We haven't been together that long, but...I was wondering if maybe, if you felt the same, we could consider moving in together?" He was looking straight into her eyes, he was dead serious but the way his face was completely pink toned down the seriousness of it all and she felt herself smile.

"Yes.," she stated simply as if he just asked if she liked chocolate. All the tension and seriousness seemed to flow out of him and instead he looked gobsmacked.

"Yes?"

"Yes."

"Just like that? You don't need to think it over?"

"Do you think I need to think it over?"

"No, well, maybe. I didn't know. I just thought that you might think it was too soon."

"Not really, you're the longest relationship I've had by two whole months. Also we're both shinobi, and as much as we don't want to think about it, we could die at any day. We have to live life as we want while we can, and if you're ready to move in then I want you to." While he seemed happy it seemed like he was mulling something over.

"What do you mean if _I'm _ready?"

"Well I was wanting you to move in back in August but I thought it might be too soon, and I'm the first girl you've really dated and since I've kind of made the call for a lot of first things we did I thought I'd wait and let you decide when we should try and move in."

"You've been wanting to move in with me for the last two months?"

"Yes." The way she kept talking just matter of factly made him slouch back on the couch. "Is something wrong?"

"No, well, not really. But I it still kind of amazes me how you always seem to be one step ahead of me." She crawled over to sit on his lap and wrap her arms around his neck.

"Even if I was a step ahead I'll always stop and wait for you."

"I guess that's at least something," he said with a small smile. She stuck her tongue out at him and leaned in for a chaste kiss before leaning her forehead against his.

"So first of all where are we moving? Are you moving in here or are we moving somewhere in the compound?"

"I was thinking about moving in here with you and sharing rent and such for now. I am saving to try and get a house in the compound but I'm not quite there yet."

"Is it expensive?"

"Isn't any house expensive? I always think it's weird how people, especially civilians always think just because you're a part of the clan or heir of a clan you would automatically just get a house. Don't they know how expensive they are? Even if you inherited land the cost for building materials and a crew to construct even a basic house." Sakura giggled and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Yes, yes, so when are you wanting to do this move?"

"Well I'd like to do it before we go on this mission but if we are sent out right away and don't have enough time in between probably right after."

"Sounds good to me, I guess I'll wait and see what happens tomorrow and we'll try and find a day that would work. Maybe I can get Naruto and his army of clones to help, don't you think?"

"I don't know if I'd want his army of clones helping, most the time unless it's fighting they're not all that helpful and are usually too rough on things."

"It's fine we'll just package everything with a _lot_ of newspaper." She felt a familiar vibration on her lower back which reminded her about something she wanted to ask.

"Ne, Shino?"

"Hmm," he said obviously distracted by the woman on his lap.

"It's been almost four months and my beetle is still here, I know she doesn't have much longer-" For some reason that thought made her a little sad. "But what will happen when she dies? Will she have marked me or something as a possible home and a new queen would approach me? Or would it just go back to normal?" She felt him tense suddenly and she became a little worried, she sat up straight and looked him in the eyes. "Shino?"

"Well I guess I could tell you now though I was kind of avoiding this for a while, but you deserve to know."

"Know what? What are you talking about?" She seemed kind of nervous now since he seemed kind of distressed.

"Well it's just some kind of clan tradition that you kind of fell into." She looked confused still and he sighed bowing his head for a moment. "Ok I'll start from the beginning, you know that there is a slight connection with hosts and beetles, even members not of my clan like you can have a kind of connection with the beetle?" She nodded in understanding. "Well it is usually tradition when you become engaged for the fiances to exchange female beetles. They are bound to the original host but also form a new bond to the new host so they can always be linked." Sakura seemed to be taking it in but her face was taking on a slightly pink hue. Whether from embarrassment or anger he still wasn't sure.

"But what about non clan members?"

"Well in that case the clan member would give a female with his or her chakra link to the fiance and they would give it chakra and let it live on them and create a weaker version of the link." It was silent for a moment or two and Sakura's face was completely blank which was scarier to him then if she actually looked angry.

"Shino?"

"Yes?"

"So you're telling me technically by tradition of your clan we've been engaged for four months?"

"Well not really. It's more like a traditional gift that is given after you ask. It's not like that itself is a marriage proposal...usually."

"Shino!" She had grabbed the collar of his high coat and was now nose to nose with a _definitely_ angry Sakura. "And when were you going to tell me this?"

"I wanted to tell you after the beetle died but she seems to be taking her sweet time." The shaking suddenly stopped.

"Shino?"

"Yes," he answered timidly.

"Your dad knows doesn't he?" Shino went paler if that was possible.

"Yes but I did explain it was a misunderstanding," he said quickly trying to quell her rising anger/embarrassment.

"Is that why your parents have been asking me to marry you since we first met," she said in a quiet voice, her face still pink.

"No, well at least not on my mother's part. As far as I know she knows nothing."

"But this whole time, you knew and didn't think this was important to tell me?!" Her embarrassment unfortunately seemed to be fueling her anger.

"I just didn't want to embarrass you if you took it the wrong way," he said quickly trying not to stumble over his own words.

"Hows this for wrong way," she yelled grabbing him by his coat collar. The next thing he knew he was getting an upside down view of her stomping into her apartment and slamming her door behind her. He sighed and righted himself in the hallway outside her apartment and sighed rubbing his bruised shoulders.

'I actually think she took it better than I thought. I was sure I'd get at least a broken bone when she found out.' He got up and dusted himself off before heading for home. While he wanted nothing more than to beg for forgiveness and talk it out with her he knew better. After dating the fiery Hokage's apprentice for four months now he knew when she was mad it was better to give her time to cool off and then apologize, especially if her anger seemed to be fueled by embarrassment. He was thankful it was rare he was the object of her anger, it was usually more along the lines of one of her unfortunate teammates who had even less social etiquette than him and often were putting their feet in their mouths.

Most people saw them as a perfect yet oddly paired couple and he didn't think anyone had ever seen them fight, but that didn't mean they didn't have their tiffs. It was usually because of something he said or did that while he thought was chivalrous she thought was sexist, or usually a misunderstanding of what he was trying to convey since he wasn't always the best with words. Thankfully she was learning to let him try and explain himself better before getting angry and he tried to make sure what ever concerns he had were not taken as insults and put downs. It could sometimes be tiring trying to get what they meant across to one another, but it was always worth it. Though lately he had begun to worry more.

She was back on missions now and was also working at the hospital again. He had known she had a hectic schedule before as her teammates attested to it being normal for her to wear herself ragged from work. But lately she seemed even more tired than usual and she actually looked a little paler. He wondered if maybe she wasn't quite over the chakra exhaustion like she thought. He tried to bring it up once but she brushed it off and when he tried to bring it up again she just said it was cold and flu season and she might be getting sick and therefore would drink something to help her immune system. He brought it up to her teammates but they just looked at him with pity and pretty much told him she was as stubborn as a mule and it would take something big for her to slow down now that she was back on her feet.

That had been one of the bigger reasons he had decided to ask to move in. If he moved in he might be able to keep a better eye on her and make sure she ate well and got enough sleep, and took care of herself. Of course there were plenty of other reasons as well, and even though he tried to deny it, some of the reasons weren't all that pure, but he was only a man dammit! Before he hadn't been sure she would be so willing for him to move in so soon, but her total lack of care for it had him feeling like a child compared to her when he made such a big deal out of it. Though maybe it was just his lover, for when he brought the idea up to Hinata she had the normal reaction he thought he would get and that was uncertainty and hesitance since they hadn't been together all that long. If there was one thing Sakura was a master at though it was surprising him, but then again she wouldn't be her if she didn't keep him on his toes.

He veered off his normal path home and went into a popular herbal shop just off to the right. The owner kept slightly odd hours, opening at 2 in the afternoon and staying open until 1 AM, but he said it was because some of his best customers were shinobi getting home later after missions. It didn't matter, just made it easier for him to pick up what he would need for tomorrow. He went down the fourth aisle from the door, almost near the end on the left on the top shelf and grabbed a canister of dark red tea leaves he had become familiar with over the months and approached the counter. The man smiled and grabbed a paper bag to put the container in as Shino counted out the money.

"Fight with the missus again?" Shino sighed but didn't deny it. It wasn't often but when Sakura and him actually fought he always felt guilty even when it wasn't entirely his fault, and he always ended up buying her favorite tea leaves to give her the next day when he apologized. She would usually apologize as well and if he was lucky they would usually spend the afternoon 'making up.' He tried to fight the pink he knew was on his face as he walked out the door of the shop, bag in hand. 'I think she's turning me into a pervert like the rest of her team,' he thought thinking back to one of their first conversations they had on the swing on his parents porch. As much as she protested she only seemed to prove to him that all of team 7 was equally perverted, and she seemed to be infecting him with such thoughts as well. Not that he was complaining, she seemed to bring out a different side of him he never knew existed and while it was kind of frightening to get lost in his emotions he knew it wasn't just him getting swept up.

He didn't remember arriving home, or taking his sandles off, or even making it to his room. But he snapped out of his daze just as he stopped at the foot of his bed to set the package on nightstand and flop down on his back on the cool blanket. He also couldn't stop thinking about the Stone ninjas and just how desperate they were. Even now months later just thinking about what they had done to Sakura and had almost done with Kimiko made the kikai inside him buzz alive and want to lash out. He didn't think himself an overprotective man, but neither did he think he could let those who attack his important people go unpunished. He would protect those important to him with his life if needed, it was his will of fire, and he would burn those who stood against him.

AN: I hope it was worth the wait (as god awfully long as that was). Also I had to poke fun at the fact in a lot of fics people assume the heir of the clan gets a house just because. Do any of you seriously know just how hard it is to buy a house? I only hope maybe one day many years from now I could afford a house! Anyway reviews are lovely, thank you everyone who has continued to review and PM me, you keep me going!


	14. The Abduction

AN: I am SOOO sorry about the wait. I know I say this every time but I had 80% of this done on the train ride to ACEN and then the moment I got back from con I was flooded with wedding planning. I have now dug myself out from under dresses and flowers and made my way back to the computer to finish this chapter up. It ended up longer then I wanted (almost double length) but I doubt anyone will be complaining. Anyway I hope it was worth the wait.

Chapter 14: The Abduction

Sakura was in a bad mood this morning, but it was her own fault really and the only person she was really mad at was herself. After she threw Shino out the night before she had eventually cooled off and then felt like an utter bitch throwing a hissy fit for no reason. She knew she had acted childish and it wasn't his fault for the odd misunderstanding, but she couldn't help herself. She always knew she was a bit more emotional then shinobi or even kunoichi were supposed to be, wearing her heart on her sleeve, but it seemed to be worse ever since they had started dating. The worst part was she didn't know why. Well she had a feeling she _might_ know why, but after Sasuke she dared not think of the L word without getting nervous. After how badly her first love had ended she did not want to just let herself fall for the next thing that came alone. 'But he's not just the next thing that came along. This is Shino, you've been together for almost four months now. You're not just playing around, you're serious for him!' She shook her head to clear her thoughts, she wasn't quite ready to face up to her inner feelings just yet. Right now denial was safer then the truth. 'For now I'm just going to apologize for last night.'

Before leaving her apartment she sent a message via messanger bird asking for Shikamaru at this mornings meeting if Tsunade-sama had not already requested him. She was about to step out the door when she grumbled seeing the post-it note on the back of her door. 'Don't forget breakfast!' She grumbled and opened her fridge to pull out a protein shake and quickly rummage through her upper cupboards before pulling out some immune boosters to add to the shake. She quickly mixed it and hopped out her door drinking it on her way grimacing at the sweet bitter flavor. The early morning sun just rising over the hokage monument and warming the chill the night had brought.

It only made her feel even more guilty when the whole reason she put the note up was because Shino thought she was working too hard and skipping too many meals and was going to make herself sick. 'Seriously all the guy does is worry about you and you act like a total bitch, you need to get over yourself!' She finished off her shake and tossed it in a nearby trashcan, shaking off her nausea that sometimes happened when she chugged her breakfast too fast. She shook her head and took a couple deep breaths getting it under control before turning towards a part of the village she was becoming familiar with, the large wooden gates open and welcome as she noticed others waving at her. She stopped just outside the gates to the Aburame clan compound and waited, she hoped by arriving early she could catch him before the meeting. The last thing she wanted was to be distracted in the meeting because of her royal fuck up. 'Sometimes I wonder how he puts up with me?'

She noticed how cool the breeze was and was glad she had worn her long sleeved shirt instead of the sleeveless one she normally did. Something in the air seemed different, something was changing, and she wondered just what it was, she closed her eyes against the cool breeze. She quickly turned around her eyes opening and searching as she felt a familiar flutter at the back of her shoulder and came face to face with Shino who seemed surprised to see her there.

"Sakura?" She smiled which seemed to put him at ease and he approached her but still stood a foot away. 'Probably still trying to figure out if I'm angry,' she thought a little sadly.

"Walk with me," she asked holding her hand to him. He didn't hesitate in taking it as they both started walking towards the hokage tower, though he noticed they were taking the long way, the less crowded way. It didn't take him long to try and apologize.

"Sakura I-" She put her hand up to his mouth to shush him, stopping them both in their tracks.

"Shino I'm sorry about yesterday. I understand why you didn't want to tell me and didn't want to upset me. I know I should have been more understanding, and I'm sorry about getting so mad," she said making sure to meet his eyes, to show her sincerity. She took her hand away and waited for whatever he decided to respond with. He took a moment to pull his words together first.

"I still should have said something sooner. I'm sorry." She almost wanted to sigh as he tried to take responsibility for the fight even if it was mostly her fault. He quickly dug around in the pocket of his long coat and pulled out a familiar package and she could only blush and sigh again feeling even more guilty as he handed her her favorite brand of tea leaves.

"Thank you, you know you don't have to get me something every time we get in an argument."

"I know I don't have to but I want to." She smiled taking his hand in hers again and putting the bag into one of her medic pouches for later.

"If I didn't know any better I'd think you just wanted to make me feel guilty for not getting you something and that's why we always end up having-" He quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, his blush visible even more so with his light colored coat hood on his head and she tried to not giggle at the mortified look she knew he was hiding.

"I-I never expect something in return, let alone _that. _Not to say that I mind it but..." She finally broke out in giggles, and took his hand off her mouth.

"Sorry, you're too much fun to tease." She leaned up and quickly pulled the edge of his hood down and gave him a peck on the lips. He sighed but they continued on their way to the hokage tower both in much better moods. They were able to sense three other presences within the room as they came to a halt outside and knocked letting their hands drop to their sides for now.

"Come in." Along with Tsunade behind her desk there were three others: Shikamaru, Hinata, and Kiba. The two of them bowed to Tsunade before standing next to their comrades.

"You have all been gathered here and briefed beforehand about the situation. By Sakura's recommendation we have included Shikamaru in the briefing and he has already been brought up to speed. I have brought team 8 back together in this instance since you are one of the best tracking teams we have and right now more than power we need to be able to find these rogues. Though it has also been brought up we need to try and figure out just what their aim is. As stated in the brief their country and own clansmen have turned them over and washed their hands of them. Therefore we don't understand why they are still attempting to go through with this, especially when we have relayed to them that we plan on helping them with their fertility problems. That is where you come in Shikamaru. I know you were only recently briefed but do you have any ideas on the situation?

He say there in contemplation for a moment before sighing and possibly muttering 'troublesome.' "It's hard exactly to understand where they're coming from. But to place myself in their shoes: they were sent on this mission to help revive their clan, thinking this was the only way. Then after the failed mission which cost them probably close to a quarter of their men if not more they stay to try and figure out a new plan, send word back to their clan, and instead probably get a response along the lines of 'come back, turn yourselves in, the mission failed.' If they go back they will be punished even though it was the clan who directed them to act, there's a possibility they feel wronged by the way the clan turned their backs on them after they'd been caught and want to prove them wrong and rub it in their faces. But there's more than a matter of pride here because as almost everyone here has noticed if they actually succeed the question is then what to do with the person kidnapped? They can't go home, they can't stay in stone, and what would be the plan? There are only three viable options I currently see: 1. They kidnap the person and hunker down in a non-allied country like Tea or Waterfall and raise the child and the rest of the clan there, making their own faction to either possibly try and take over or reconnect with the original clan at a later time. 2. Kidnap the person and use them as leeway to get back home without punishment, though that doesn't seem very likely. 3. And I really hope it's not this one," he said with a sigh. "They take the kidnapped person and try to extricate the genetic material and smuggle that back into their village and possibly clan which would be less likely to be noticed."

"Shikamaru," Sakura said catching his attention. "Why do you keep saying the person they're trying to kidnap? Wasn't Kimiko their target?"

"Originally yes, she was young and would be easier to kidnap being she was only a child. However I think that may have shifted. If they have indeed been spying on or keeping tabs on the Aburame clan then they may know of Kimiko's impending sibling. While it's not something being gossiped all over the village it's also not a secret, they could possibly try and await the birth of her sibling or even attempt to take her mother. In her condition she wouldn't risk fighting, they would also get a woman who was possibly fertile considering this is her second pregnancy, and also the child was likely to be fertile. As much as I don't want to consider it all three are targets, and we have to keep that in mind. I would go so far as to have you speak with your father and relatives about this. You want to make sure security is tight when it comes time for the birth, they could try and slip in as an extra nurse or midwife and steal them away."

Shino seemed rigid at this new propsect but nodded I agreement. "I will definitely speak with my father about the details."

"Any ideas about the type of place they may be hiding out," asked Sakura thinking back to the original reason they were all called in.

"That's hard to say. They could actually be continuously traveling to make sure they aren't caught, or they could just be making it seem that way so we don't actually look for a hideout. It's hard to say because there group is small to begin with, maybe 6 or 7 left, and the number or people they have to use to create such an illusion would be 3 or 4 different people, if it was shadow clones they would all have the same scent. So it would be a lot of trouble for it to just be an illusion but we don't know enough about these guys to make a proper deduction. _If_ they did have a main base though they would need it far enough away it wouldn't accidentally be stumbled upon. Also based on the intel their clan has sent us they have no medic nin with them so if they end up targeting the mother then they would need to be near a village where they could possibly get medical treatment. Considering they still wear their Stone headbands it would also have to be a civilian village since they would think nothing of Stone shinobi since we have a peace treaty with them, whereas all Konoha shinobi know to be on the look out for a small group of Stone ninja."

"Thorough as always Shikamaru," said Tsunade solemnly. "Though it is hard to say which of the three options they will take?"

"Though option 1 is harder is the long run option 3 is harder to accomplish currently."

"So you think they're still trying for a kidnapping?"

"Unfortunately yes, it seems likely, but without knowing who the target is it spreads our forces out."

"It can't be helped," Sakura said with a sigh.

"Anyway I haven't had a lot of time but with my dads help I pin pointed a dozen different locations they could be hiding but with another day or two I could likely find another dozen."

"Please do, you have two days," Tsunade said.

"This does not mean you four leave in 2 days," Tsunade stated addressing the rest of the team. "We're waiting to see if we hear back from the clan on information on any jutsus or poisons they may be using, they have 3 more days to reply to our message. It is doubtful about the jutsu but they may reveal which poisons they use. If we can get that information we could try working out a strategy and Sakura can either stock up on or create some anti-toxins for any poisons they may be carrying. Also after Shikamaru plots out possibly areas I want you to prepare some anti-toxins for poisons native to those areas in case they're trying to catch us off guard with local toxins we're not expecting. You're off the next three days, then we prepare and you leave in a week. Plan on being gone for 3 weeks. Dismissed."

"Yes," they chorused.

As they all exited the tower and dispersed Sakura took Shino's hand in hers and steered them towards her house. Even in the dire situation her mood seemed to be lighter than before.

"So what do you think? You want to try and move in before or after?" He seemed caught off guard and wasn't expecting her to randomly bring it up so soon.

"Well we have 3 full days of strategizing and prepping and then we could try and get this move done before the end of the week. It's that or wait four weeks until after we get back fomr the mission. What do you think?"

"I think it would be nice to come home from the mission and for us to be able to go home together." As calmly as she said it the light blush on her cheeks gave away the real emotion hidden in those words. He felt his own face heat as well.

"Then I guess it can't be helped, we'll have to ask Naruto." Sakura giggled.

"LOTS of newspaper."

Sakura sighed pulling the bandana off of her head and mopping her sweaty brow with it. 'All this in just two days,' she thought exhausted. She looked around the room at what was probably 85% of Shino's belongings unpacked and scattered around her apartment. Well 85% of what he owned but all of what he was bringing anyway. There were some things he left at his parents home that he didn't need here like his nightstand, his lamp, his bed. Thankfully there were only a few things they needed to still get tomorrow but it shouldn't take more than two or three hours to finish up and then...'we'll be officially moved in and living together!' Even though she was so calm during the conversation about him moving in she now felt like a giddy schoolgirl. She was trying to play it off and be cool but she had never actually had someone move in with her, and it's not like she was lying when she said she'd wanted him to move in back in August. But she wanted to wait for him to make the decision...that and she really didn't know how to take that step. But now...

"Just finished tossing all but 10 of the boxes. I think that should be enough for the last of my stuff tomorrow," he said coming up to hug her from behind, she leaned back into his hold.

"And Naruto only broke a photo frame, set off one exploding tag, and cut himself with one of your kunai."

"I guess it could have been worse," he said taking it all in.

"We haven't heard anything from Tsunade about a summons tomorrow, I'd like to get up early and finish moving you in so we can hopefully get it done before mission prep."

"Sure thing, I'm just going to take a shower and we should both head to bed."

"Sounds good," she said and started taking off her shirt walking down her long hallway. She looked over her shoulder at him with a smile in just her shorts and bra. "Coming?"

~ ~ ~ Lemon ~ ~ ~

He stood staring after her for a moment in shock before his clothes soon joined hers on the floor and he heard the shower water running as he closed the door behind him. He turned to see her already nude and standing under the running water, steam surrounding her form as she hummed in pleasure. She turned after a moment and locked eyes with him

"Are you just going to watch?"

"I'm tempted," he said smirking and enjoying the way her eyes seemed to darken with a look he was familiar with.

"Suit yourself," she said and took the puff ball and lathered it with soap and started from just under her neck and slowly drug it along her breasts, her nipples hardening from the soft friction. Her eyes were closed and her head tilted back as she seemed to be enjoying herself, the water washing away the soap left in its wake. The puff ball went under her breasts propping them up as it lathered the under sides and slowly made it's way down to her lean abdomen. Shino continued watching feeling the blood rushing to his hardening member and just watching transfixed, wanting to join her but holding himself back, wanting to see how far she would go.

As she rubbed the puff ball along her hips she bent over to run it along her ankles and slowly up her calves, lathering and letting the water rinse it away, aware of the eyes on her body. She opened her eyes smiling at him as she brought the puff ball closer to her most intimate area and ran it over her throbbing sex. She ran it along her slit, feeling the suds lubricating her as she felt Shino's eyes observing her every movement, burning her flesh with his gaze. Her hand dropped the puff ball and stopped the teasing as her hand slid between her legs finding her clit and rubbing it gently giving a small moan from the pleasure. She heard him grunt and looked over at his nude form, he was standing fully erect, she thought could see a bit of precum on the tip and wondered just what she would have to do to get him in there and licked her lips.

She continued rubbing herself letting small moans and pants escape her, to the point where she almost forgot she had an audience, letting the pleasure over take her. She slipped a finger inside, her other hand gripping the wall of the shower as she continued to probe her inner most area. She felt herself slowly building to a peak, her moans becoming louder and her eyes closed in pleasure gripping at the wall, when suddenly there was a hand on her wrist. She opened her eyes just in time to see Shino pull her hand away, which she protested with a groan, and push her up against the wall, his mouth dominating hers. She liked when she could bring out this side of him; dominate, possessive, sensual.

His hands went down to her thighs and he easily lifted her up, pinning her against the wall. She didn't have but a moment to process his assault on her body when she felt him slide his length along her slit lubricating it and then in one thrust he entered. She moaned, bringing her arms up around his neck and holding on tight as she felt him penetrate her so deeply. He pulled back and thrust back in earning him another moan as he set a steady pace.

"Do you know just what you look like when you touch yourself?" Her eyes opened wide, mind going blank, 'this is new.' "The way your eyes scrunch up when you hit just the right _spot_." She felt her walls quiver as he punctuated his statement with such an example. "The way your moan comes out so deep." Even as he continued to talk his hand slid between her legs and rubbed against her clit causing as such one such moan. "But most of all," he said his pace quickening and his hand increased it's frequency and she felt herself having trouble concentrating on his words. "The way your eyes dilate and your head rolls back, when you cum for me." Her thighs were shaking and she was having trouble catching her breath, she was almost there. "_cum_ for me Sakura." Her eyes dilated, her head thrown back, and a deep groan was torn from her throat as her walls constricted on him. And even as she rode out her orgasm he pumped into her a few more times before he held her to him as he came grunting her name.

The water was surprisingly still hot even after all of that and he slowly let her legs drop back to the ground but held her in case she fell over as she caught her breath. But more then the amazing orgasm she just had or the actual shower they still needed to take there was one thing prominent in her mind.

"Shino, when the hell did you learn to talk dirty?"

The rest of the week went by in a blur. They received word back from the main clan giving them info on the poisons but nothing else, like Tsunade expected. Though that did help. Sakura worked on getting anti-toxins and antidotes ready while Shino brushed up on the areas they would be traveling to and divided his time up between preparing and being completely distracted by his girlfriend and their new living arrangements. The end of the week came too soon and they were being briefed by Tsunade. Shikamaru had narrowed the areas the group was most likely down to about 26 different areas. It would take them almost three weeks to scout all the areas and under no circumstances were they to split up unless it was life or death. Considering the clan they were dealing with Shino was captain on this mission. No one knew the full extent of the clans abilities and if the Aburame clan was anything to compare them to even one of their men might be able to incapacitate the whole group.

Overall while they were wary looking for this rogue group the trip didn't seem as tense as they thought. They set off at a quick pace trying to get through one or two villages a day. The weather seemed to hold good. And at night when Sakura always stated she'd be sharing a room with Shino Kiba would tease them endlessly and Sakura would give as good as she got. But they all seem to know it was good natured, even Hinata occasionally laughed at them. Regardless of sharing a room, and as tempting as it was, they were on a mission so they kept it to mostly cuddling at night.

Unfortunately though after two weeks and scratching 18 locations off their list they seemed no closer to finding the group then before. They were on their way to Gifu on the border of Tea, and the team was starting to get a little restless.

Sakura took a drink from her canteen and then held it out to her left asking silently if Shino wanted a drink. He shook his head and she capped it and put it back in her bag. Hinata was walking slightly behind them keeping watch on the rear and Kiba was a ways up front scouting ahead. They heard rumors at the last town that a group of bandits was supposedly roaming near the next location they were headed. Though to civilians any group of rogues was bandits so it could possibly be the group of Stone shinobi. They were all on alert and Shino was even having his bugs scout the area with Kiba to make sure they didn't overlook something. Shino suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Shino," Sakura asked causing the other two in the group to stop and look to him.

"A mile and a half north east from here, a group of 5 men and a little girl, the men are able to use chakra." They all switched from wary to attack mode.

"The girl," she asked almost afraid to hear the answer. Shino shook his head.

"Not Kimiko." Sakura had been worried for a while that while they were out looking for the group that they may have put their plan into action already back in Konoha.

"But then who?"

"I do not know, but she does not seem to be able to use chakra. We'll head that direction, when we get within a few hundred yards, I want you to use byakugan Hinata. Kiba once we scout the area you need to be a distraction taking on the majority of the group from the front and I will use my kikai to subdue those holding the little girl. Sakura I need you to get in there and get her and get back out without being injured. Hinata you'll cover her escape route. Once you're off the battlefield make sure the girl is ok and if needed heal her.

"If needed," Sakura asked, worry lacing her tone.

"My kikai can tell she is upset, she is not there of her own free will so I can only assume they kidnapped her. They did not sense anything life threatening but she may still be injured. That's why I want Hinata to use byakugan." They all nodded and set off at a quick pace and were just a few hundred yards away from the group within ten minutes. Hinata quickly assessed that they were not the Stone shinobi and Shino verified there were none of the insects from the clan within the area or the men.

"So they're just rogues," asked Kiba.

"Rogues who've kidnapped a little girl," Sakura growled. Sure enough Hinata had seen a little girl with tear tracks running down her face, she was a little roughed up but didn't seem to be severely injured.

"Shino." Kiba didn't even have to ask the question, with them being teammates as long as they had been his friends name was enough of a question.

"We will continue with the plan and find out where they took her from. If she is on the way we will escort her, if not we will leave her with the authorities in the next town." They nodded in agreement and got into position. Sakura tensed in the bushes waiting for her queue.

She heard more then saw Kiba and Akamaru crash into the clearing where the bandits had set up camp. All but two of them men ran to face him but the two who were left to watch the girl quickly collapsed and small beetles could be seen crawling along non covered flesh. Sakura pushed chakra to her feet and quickly jumped between the two taking the girl carefully in her arms. The girl stiffened in her arms and tried to fight her but she just held her tighter to her for the moment. With another chakra infused jump she went for the tree branches. She felt a presence behind her and saw one of the rogues escaped Kiba but then Hinata was there beside her and she continued on a few yards away from the fighting to set down out of site. The little girl was close to hysterical and she kneeled to the ground still holding her close.

"I'm sorry we scared you but you're all right. We're going to take you home to your mom and dad," she said. The little girl looked up at her fearfully, tears still streaming down her face. But behind the fear she saw an inkling of hope hiding behind the fear.

"I promise you, here, let me help fix that cut," she said referring to a long red line on her neck that looked like a branch had swiped her. She held her hand up to her neck, "this won't hurt I promise." The little girl still winced in reflex as Sakura healed the small cut but after realizing there _wasn't_ any pain she looked up at Sakura in wonder. "I'm a medic ninja, I use my ninja abilities to heal," she said trying to keep it simple. Most civilians in non ninja villages didn't understand the concept of chakra and justsu, they just knew ninjas had ninja abilities. She pulled her hand away to see flawless skin where the red mark had been.

"Feel better?" The little girl nodded and looked up at her in wonder, the fear gone from her eyes. She felt rapidly approaching presences. "Do not be afraid, my friends are coming, they will not hurt you." Not a moment later the rest of her team showed up. Though funnily enough the little girls attention was not on her three other teammates but on the gigantic Akamaru.

"How is she," Shino asked eyeing the little girl who was still fixated on Akamaru. She held a timid hand out to him and he sniffed it before his large tongue stuck out and licked the side of her face.

"She seems fine, just a few scrapes and bumps but I healed some of them already. The bandits?"

"Taken care of." At the questioning look on her face he continued. "Detained, we don't know why they kidnapped her or who they are. They are all unconscious, I thought we could take them to the next village and drop them off there." She nodded and turned back to the little girl patting her on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Honey where do you live? In Gifu," Sakura asked.

"Not quite," she said quietly, her voice raspy from crying earlier. "We're about two miles east on a farm."

"How about I take her home and you guys take them into the village?"

"You know we're not supposed to split up Sakura,"Shino said obviously not liking the idea.

"It's not splitting up, her home is two miles away. If needed you guys could be there in five minutes. That's like being on the other side of the village. I just want to get her home right away and then I'll meet you guys in the village." She could see the skepticism leaking from Shino. "If I'm not back in a half hour come get me." He looked between her and the little girl a moment before letting a barely perceivable sigh.

"You have 20 minute." She couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips. She knew it was more then just the mission that had him keep a tight time limit. The other members of the team rounded up the bandits, piling a few on Akamaru's back before heaving the others on their shoulders. Sakura gathered the small girl up into her arms and watched as the rest of her team disappeared before turning and heading slightly east of their previous destination. It wasn't long before she came along a well traveled path and the little girl verified this was the path to her home. She kept up some small chatter with the little girl along the way and was happy she seemed to relax after her ordeal.

Apparently they had come and taken her away almost three days ago, though she didn't know why. Sakura was a bit concerned, the girl said her parents were mere farmers and there would be no way for them to pay a ransom. Then again it looked like they were waiting for someone, as much as she didn't want to think about it, there had been rumors of child trafficking in this area a few months back, she hoped they weren't trying to meet up and sell her off. She shook her head and tried to stay alert, something still seemed off.

She set down from the trees into a small clearing that opened into almost 5 or 6 acres of farm land with a barn and a small home at the front where the road ended. She set the little girl down and she took off running for the home yelling for her parents. The little girl didn't even make it to the porch before a woman in her early thirties came out, her dark hair frazzled, and bags under her eyes, her eyes widening as she saw her little girl running towards her. She quickly ran out to meet her, scooping her up in her arms holding her tight. A stocky man with bright blond hair followed quickly behind her running up and hugging the other two. She watched a small distance away not sure if she should just leave and meet up with her team or wait to ask about what happened.

"Thank you," the girls mother shouted out to her making her way over. "Thank you so much you brought our Suzuka back to us," she said her eyes watering. "Thank you so much," she said her eyes watering and tears leaking from her eyes.

"It's fine, I'm just glad she's alright."

"Thank you," she chanted again. "Thank you," she whispered. 'I'm sorry,' the woman mouthed and Sakura's eyes narrowed as she noticed the tears weren't just of relief, they were of sadness. She felt a vibration on her lower back and turned quickly jumping out of the way just in time to side step a boot to the head. She looked over to see two men with dark hair and pale skin, dark goggles strapped to their eyes, and stone headbands across their foreheads. 'Shit, how long have I been gone,' she automatically thought trying to figure out how long before she had backup. She hadn't even felt their presence, in fact she still didn't. She had the element of surprise before but she couldn't count on that this time. She flared her chakra trying to alert her teammates of the situation.

"Give up and no one gets hurt," they said and either didn't seem to notice her chakra flare or...'or they don't even care.' She got into a fighting stance but held her stance as she noticed one of the shinobi was gazing at the small family standing outside, holding his kunai tightly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want them to hurt her," the mother pleaded with her to understand the betrayl.

"Kidnapping civilians with hired rogues just so we wouldn't know it was you, just what won't level will you stoop to?"

"You don't need to worry about that, now just rest."

"Rest, what-" She went to take a step back and felt dizzy. She quickly looked down and saw a few bright green colored beetles on her calves and brought chakra to her hand like the chakra scalpel but dulled it and used it to knock them off of her legs, but felt herself sway. 'They were able to eat so much of my chakra without me noticing.' She could feel her own familiar beetle buzzing worriedly on her shoulder now, taking refuge on higher ground, though she could swear she felt a flutter of chakra from her as week. She made a sprint for the tree line making it just to the edge before the shorter of the two came to stand in front of her and she backed up to give herself distance. 'Shit...Shino.' She heard footsteps approaching but couldn't turn in time, she turned her head just as she felt a blunt hit to the back of her head as her vision went black.

The first thing she felt was a heavy hazing feeling like cotton stuffed in her head, then slowly she felt a dull ache that permeated her entire body that she was familiar with, 'chakra drain.' She kept her breathing slow end even and let her other senses take over. It was cool in the room, cooler then it was before. She didn't hear any kind of animals or movement nearby. Lastly was the pungent aroma of earth and soil, 'I'm underground.' She wondered if they were able to cloak their chakra down here either using their bugs or other jutsu. 'If they were that close to Gifu waiting for us and we didn't sense them I would say so, hell even when we were fighting I didn't feel them.' She didn't hear or sense anyone nearby and slowly cracked her eyes trying hard not to wince as even the dim lamplight on the nightstand stung her sensitive eyes. She slowly opened them first making sure she was really alone and then assessing where she was being kept. It was a small room, maybe 10 by 10, all six sides of the room, floor, ceiling, and walls were all made of dirt. There was no doors or windows and she wasn't sure if it was genjutsu or earth ninjutsu.

She slowly sat up, noticing while the room was made of dirt she was laying on a mattress on a metal bed frame with a nightstand holding a pitcher of water and a plastic cup next to her. While she still had her clothing on her pouches and weapons were all gone, and there was a small band aide on her arm. She cautiously sat up and poured a glass, she sniffed it and tested the consistency for it to be anything but water but from what she was able to deduce it was just simple h20. She decided if they wanted her drugged it had already happened judging by the bank aid. So she drank a single glass of water, the hydration helping to clear the fog in her head. She stood on shaky legs and walked up to the closest wall running her hands along the surface. It felt just like regular dirt, but she knew better.

'These are Stone Shinobi from the land of earth, there's no way this is just an ordinary underground room.' She walked the length of the room looking for any kind of hidden switch or some sign of genjutsu. She jumped as she felt the familiar vibration on her hip and turned quickly to see a man emerge from the earthen wall like he was a part of it. She took up a defensive position, eyes focusing on him, her other senses hyper aware. She was trapped, without chakra or weapons, and was damn near defenseless. But she sure as hell wasn't going to act it.

He looked younger than the rest. Maybe even the same age as her. His hair was dark black like the others but the goggles they all wore were now pulled up resting on his forehead protector, and she saw eyes green like sea foam. She briefly wondered if it was a clan trait.

"What the hell do you think you're going to accomplish with this?" Her voice seemed raw and she wondered how long she had been out.

"The same thing we've been trying to accomplish all along," he said matter of factly.

"What would you do if you even were able to get a hold of a child? You can't go home, Konoha is onto you. Your kage wouldn't be able to protect you without war."

"We don't want his protection," he said a small almost sad smile on his face. The look on his face made him seem even younger then before, almost like a child. But his face went blank as he looked at her.

"We tried arranging a marriage with the clan but they snubbed us," he said upset lacing his tone.

"Snubbed you?"

"Men," he said the word with such exhaustion. "All men in our clan, the last woman born was almost 41 years ago. The Aburame's were the only clan with any women of marrying age amongst them, but she was promised to one within their clan and wouldn't take exception." She took a moment to process the situation. It didn't look like he thought she was getting out of here if he was telling her their motives.

"They don't marry for political reasons, not when there are emotions involves," she stated thinking back to her own relationship with Shino. The scathing look he sent her had her backing against the wall.

"It's not political, it's the end of our clan," he yelled though more hurt than anger was felt in the statement. "You think we haven't tried everything the other clans have? We married outside the clan, we tried jutsu, herbs, potions, everything." She almost felt bad for him, he sounded so sincere and so broken. 'But there has to be a better way. They're so desperate this could get dangerous. I need to warn them.'

"I'm sorry it had to be this way, but we're out of options."

"You think taking me as ransom is going to get them to give up one of their clan?" Even though she knew it was probably useless she had to try and talk sense into him. His expression seemed shocked and she didn't know if it was because he thought she wouldn't speak against him or because she was so honest. "Even if they do seem to like me I don't think I'm as good of a bargaining piece as you think." He still had a shocked and confused look on his face and he seemed to study her a moment trying to piece them together.  
"You think we're trying to trade you over? Someone in your position?"

"My position? You think just because I'm the hokage's apprentice the hokage would make them give into your demands?" Now they both seemed really confused, almost like they were speaking two different languages. 'Did they seriously think I had that much sway?'

"The hokage's apprentice?" The clear confusion in his voice had her pausing. 'Did he...not know? But then why...?' "Your name?"

"You don't even know who you kidnapped," she said incredulously trying very hard not to snap.

"Your name," he snapped.

"Haruno Sakura," she said grudgingly. She figured if he really wanted to know all he had to do was look in a bingo book. It's not like it wasn't common knowledge the hokage had a pink haired apprentice.

"Not Aburame?" Now it was her turn to be confused.

"You thought I was an Aburame?" He sent her a scathing look and she flinched. "But why?"

"Why would we think you were anyone else? You were protecting the girl, you had a kikai, you're-" He cut himself off mid rant. She started to see how the pieces were falling into place, though the wrong place. The clan normally wouldn't leave a child so important to the clan to just anyone, they would usually have a clan member watch her, originally it was supposed to be Shino, the clain heir. Then she did have a kikai like those either engaged or married to an Aburame. 'Crap their target changed all right but not like we thought! How the hell did this get so mixed up!?'

"You're dating one of them aren't you," he said, a plea audible in his voice. "That's why we thought you were one of them."

"What are you talking about," she said feigning dumb, not sure what he was playing at.

"You have to be, that's the only explanation for the screw up."

"It doesn't matter if I am, they still won't trade me." His face seemed to calm down a bit at the statement and she worried she may have said something she shouldn't have.

"We don't need to trade you, that was never the purpose."

"Huh," she replied dumbly. He stared into her eyes, almost like he was looking through her.

"You don't even know do you?"

"Know what?" He continued looking at her, debating on whether or not to share the information. "What are you talking about?" She didn't even know if she could trust his information anyway considering how badly screwed up their last intel was.

"I guess there's no harm, you'll notice soon anyway."

"Notice what," she said trying to make sure he didn't hear the panic in her voice, though she may have failed.

"You're pregnant."

"No I'm not," was the automatic comeback. "I can't be, I use the same contraceptive jutsu all kunoichi use. That is infallible unless the chakra is completely drained or the man is using a jutsu to try and force conception." She thought back to the meeting that brought her and Shino together. She always worried about that first week they were together. But the moment she was allowed to use jutsus she made sure to redo it.

"Normally that would be true, but this isn't a normal situation."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know if he unintentionally kept it from you or if your little boyfriend didn't know himself, but you do know about the strain the kikai you currently have on you puts on your body right?" She was annoyed at the information they had on the Aburame kikai but put it to the side for now.

"It's not that much, barely enough chakra for a clone."

"Yes _but _it is a constant small drain on your chakra. The constant strain makes it almost impossible to maintain other constant jutsu that are supposed to be long term, including the contraceptive justu." She felt the blood drain from her face and her hand automatically flew to her stomach. 'No I can't be I-' She instantly ran though all the many times in her head she and shino had been together, the different days, the different times, that coupled with her recently upset stomach, fatigue, and mood swings. 'Oh my god he's telling the truth...I'm...'

"We already verified it with a blood sample we took, though we don't know how far along. Considering the look on your face though I guess you didn't know. Why don't you rest a bit and absorb all of this, putting too much stress on you is bad for the baby." She kind of weakly sat down on the bed, her mind still reeling to the point she barely noticed him melding into the earthen wall leaving her alone in the dirt room again. She held her hand to her stomach still coming to grips with the new information.

'I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant with Shino's baby. We're going to have a baby.' She clamped a hand over her mouth as she felt a rush of excitement that was quickly squashed by fear and sadness. 'And they're going to take it from me.' She made no noise even as the tears slid silently down her face.

AN: Sorry to leave it here but like I said this chapter wasn't supposed to be this long. This chapter also wasn;t actually supposed to have a lemon but a certain reviewer *coughXyrenacough*stated more lemon was needed, and thus there was more lemon. Some of you kind of guessed at what was going to happen with the pregnancy and I debated on changing that, but I liked the plot I had going and if some people were able to guess at it then oh well. Hopefully I surprised some of you. Just five more chapters including epilogue left, hope I can get the next one out quicker. Was also thinking of doing another fic of random snippets from this universe, tell me what you guys think.


	15. Hear My Heart

AN: I am SOOO incredibly sorry this took so long to get out. Last time I updated I was roommates at friends house, since then I moved out on my own and also I have been engaged this whole time. My wedding is now only 3 weeks away! I have been planning and calling and pretty much setting up my own wedding for the last two months! I am hopeful the next chapter will be out sooner once the wedding is over. There are only a few chapters left in this fic, hopefully I can get it done by the end of the year. Thanks to everyone who is still sticking with this fic regardless of my horrible updating skills. It is not lack of want but of time.

Chapter 15: Hear My Heart

'I'm sorry how could I have failed you so badly.' Even thought the young nin was usually stoic people could see through the tension in his frame as Shino stood in front of the Hokage. They had waited the allotted 20 minutes and then took off quickly to gather Sakura. What they found instead was a terrorized family who were all too quick to tell them of the plot that had caught Sakura.

The little girl was indeed kidnapped by bandits, bandits who had been hired by the Stone ninja. The head of the group then approached them and made them play along in setting the trap or they would kill their daughter. As upset as Shino was he couldn't blame them for trying to protect their daughter. The missing ninja would apparently do whatever it took to get what they wanted. After 24 hours of searching and combing the area there seemed to be no sign of Sakura. This left them as they were now reporting back to the Hokage who looked pissed enough to spit nails.

"By no trace you mean no scent," she paused looking at Kiba. "No chakra," she paused looking at Shino who grimaced, "And no visible trail," she paused looking straight at Hinata. They were already disappointed in themselves enough without the hokage adding to their guilt.

"Tsunade-sma," Hinata spoke up hesitantly. "All of the trails we had led to a dead end. But there is a chance since they are from Stone it wouldn't be impossible for them to have a transportation jutsu to meld with or travel through earth." Tsunade's mood seemed to grow darker.

"And the family caught in the middle of this?"

"They told us everything they knew. Unfortunately it wasn't much. They seemed to have been targeted because their home was on the outskirts of the village. Perfect for a trap." Tsunade sat contemplatively staring down the small group. Shino tried his best to stay calm and collected but every inch of him was tense under his coat and he wanted nothing more than to head straight back to Gifu and continue looking for her.

"Take the rest of the day off to rest," she finally responded. Instead of relaxing the team all tensed, Shino opened his mouth to protest but she held her hand up demanding silence. "You leave tomorrow at dawn with ANBU squad 3 and try to pick up their trail. Squad 3 is one of the best tracking teams we have, if anyone can find her they can." Though she may have said it to reassure them it may have been said to reassure herself as well. They all bowed and took their leave splitting up outside the door to head back to their own homes.

While he may have seemed composed on the outside Shino was a wreck. 'This is all my fault, this my family's problem and I dragged her right in the middle of it and now she's-' He shook his head to clear his thoughts. 'Don't think like that. She's strong, trained by the Hokage herself. She is waiting for backup right now and we cannot fail her!' He was so distracted by his thoughts he didn't hear his own name being called out. So when his cousin's hand landed on his shoulder he reflexively went on the attack. Thankfully Hisoka expected such a reaction and caught his wrist that tried to swipe a kunai at his throat.

"Shino," he said calmly finally breaking through to his cousin. Hisoka dropped the wrist that went limply to Shino's side. "I-I heard what happened." Shino felt a wave of emotion overcome him and held back the dampness in the corners of his eyes. "Even if we didn't get a long...I'm sorry." Shino smiled a bitter smile. His cousin was now finally acting civil after Sakura was gone.

"Thank you," he said softly clearing his throat trying to keep himself together. "But we are getting her back, and when we do, you're going to have to keep this kind of attitude up you know." Hisoka had a lost look in his eyes like he didn't know how to reply before finally nodding his head.

"Did you want to stay over in the compound tonight?"

"The compound?" It then hit him like a ton of bricks. He wasn't living in the compound anymore, right before the mission he and Sakura had moved into an apartment together. His new home was now empty and quiet with both of their things everywhere, it made his chest ache and he looked to his cousin and felt a pang in his heart but still shook his head.

"No I think I'll be fine, but thanks. I need to get some rest I leave at dawn."

"Shino," he said still worried but unable to find words.

"Please tell my mom and dad I'll be safe and...and I'll bring her back." His cousin nodded dumbly as he watched Shino turn and walk away. It didn't take long for him to make his way to the apartment complex he was only recently moved into. He made his way to vaguely familiar door on the fifth floor and unlocked it kicking his shoes off and setting his pack by the door. He took a deep breath as he looked around the empty room.

"Tadaima." He went in and went through the motions vaguely numb as he cooked dinner, repacked his bag with new supplies, showered, and got ready for bed. He walked into the bedroom and looked at the large bed, much too large for one person. He clicked off the light and slid under the cool sheets thinking back to how Sakura and he had thought they may need to go buy winter blankets soon, it was getting colder. It was then it all hit him, the rescue, the unease he felt about splitting up, finding her gone, the frantic search, reporting home their failure, and then the empty apartment and her lingering scent on the pillow. He made not a sound as silent tears slid from his eyes and dampened his pillow.

Sakura groggily opened her eyes feeling the crust that was holding them closed crack away and the burning in them as she opened her eyelids after crying last night. She looked around the dimly lit room and saw food and juice on a tray with a basin of water and a rag next to it. She tried to asses herself with chakra but noticed that she still didn't have enough to access. 'They must be either blocking or draining my chakra. I don't even have enough for a clone.'

She went over to the pitcher and dipped it into the water before rubbing it over her face. She sighed at the coolness on her face and took a deep breath sighing. She'd been up a good part of last night crying and overall having a pity party. She was kidnapped, pregnant, and no one knew where she was and her kidnappers were planning on stealing her baby. Overall it wasn't that surprising to her, especially with her hormones, that thinking about that had made her break down crying. That was last night, and this was today. She had been upset and had a good cry but she needed to put that aside and figure out a plan. 'It's not just me I'm trying to save anymore,' she thought and resisted the urge to rub her stomach. One thing she had come to realize slowly was that if she wasn't in her current situation, she would be extremely happy though confused about finding out she was pregnant. She was fairly certain Shino had not known about the drain on chakra messing with her jutsu or he would have warned her, so she was not going to fault him for it.

The first thing first was to figure out how far along she was. Once she knew how far along she could determine what limits her body could handle while trying to escape. Especially if she wasn't that far along there was greater chance of miscarrying. She shook her head trying not to think of that. But thinking on that if she did miscarry there was a chance they would try to impregnate her themselves if there was even a chance it would work. As much as she wanted to pity them she could not let their bad situation excuse their current actions.

The second thing would be to determine where she was. She knew she was underground but she didn't know what country she was in or if they were located in a city or in the middle of no where. That would make a difference when it came to escape.

Lastly was to determine how many there were. She had hunches and guesses but unless she knew how many she may be caught trying to escape when a person she didn't count on snuck up on her. The one good thing was her kikai seemed to react whenever one of them was near, it gave her a split second warning to prepare herself. Once she could assess these three things she could try and make a plan of escape.

She took the tray of food to her bed and began slowly eating her breakfast and sipping on the juice provided, she felt a bit nauseated but thankfully she was able to keep the contents of her stomach in her stomach. She tried going over in her head just when she might have gotten pregnant. They started dating just after Kiba's birthday and their first time wasn't long after that. She could have gotten pregnant as early as mid July. She ran her hands over her body taking stock of anything she may have recently brushed off like her other symptoms. She wasn't physically showing so she was probably still first trimester. They said a blood test came back positive so most likely after 4 weeks. She was starting to feel nauseous in the morning so morning sickness usually started up around 6-8 weeks. So somewhere between 6 – 14 weeks most likely. 'Shit that doesn't really narrow it down much.' All in all she needed more information before she could even attempt a plan of action. She finished the food and set the dishes back on the side table where she found it.

Without much else to do she began doing stretches on the ground. If nothing else she needed to try and keep in shape and keep herself limber. With oncoming weight gain she had to make sure she could still move when she made her escape. She thought again about the conversation she had last night with her captor. 'Still can't believe he didn't know who he was kidnapping!' For some reason that annoyed her more than it should. Not only that but how desperate they were. It seemed odd though that nothing was helping their clan. They had tried potions, herbs, marrying outside the clan, justus. It seemed very strange that nothing had given any results. She wondered if it was something that they were all overlooking. She felt a buzz on her hip and looked up just as the same captor from yesterday melded through the earth. He seemed a bit surprised to see her sprawled out in the shape of a human pretzel on the floor.

"Are you sure you should be stretching like that?"

"Actually it's encouraged early in pregnancy to exercise and stretch since it will be harder to continue later." He seemed a little surprised but then directed his gaze back to the empty tray.

"We want you to come meet with our doctor."

"Doctor?" This was new there was no intel on them having a medic.

"He'll be doing a check up on you once a week. We'll also be moving you to a different room."

"Why?"

"Well I don't know if you've noticed but this room only has a bed and a table. We thought you might like a bathroom." She pursed her lips before deciding to ask her question.

"Why would you give me more freedom? Won't I be more likely to run away?"

"While even without chakra you're dangerous let's just say there's no where for you to run."

"So I am underground," she sighed. He said nothing but the silence said it all. If they had her so far underground they weren't worried about her breaking out then she was going to have to find a way to get someone else here. "Can I use the bathroom first?"

"I believe the doctor wants samples, you'll probably have to wait til after for the new room." She resisted the urge to sigh and watched as he put his hand to the wall of dirt he had merged through and saw it open into a hallway. He stepped out and she followed behind. The wall of dirt closed behind her and she tried to take note of where it was located. With them melding the earth like this she could easily get lost or rerouted. She followed him down a few more twists and turns in the hallway before they stopped in front of another wall of dirt. Once he again put his hand on the wall it opened into a new room. 'Great so there are no doors, they open walls.' She notices it was set up like a normal OBGY. There were no dirt floors or ceilings here, apparently they had this set up especially for the kidnapping beforehand. 'I guess at least it's sterile.' She noticed a man who didn't seem in the least bit shinobi walk up to her and her captor.

"This is Dr. Oshu, he will be seeing you once a week. Doctor this is Sakura." She looked him up from head to toe and noticed he seemed like the regular civilian doctors at the hospital. His hands weren't calloused like his shinobi counter parts. There were no visible scars on his form and he didn't seem overly cautious. 'I wonder if he knows I'm here against my will?'

"Hello I need some information and then some samples before we continue." Her captor stayed with her for most of this. He asked her some basic exam questions: weight, height, last menses, diet, etc. Then there was a urine and blood test before he led her to a curtain and had her disrobe. While she understood she was a captive she was a bit relieved when her captor said he was going to be on the other side of the wall while the doctor did the pelvic exam. She felt like she should be doing something but she currently had damn near no chakra and she was so far underground even if she killed all her captors she might be stuck down there trying to dig her way out for days or weeks. Hell she couldn't even find it in herself to attack the doctor. He seemed to be a normal doctor just doing his job, they would probably just find someone else to replace him anyway. Maybe with him being a bystander though she could try and find help from him.

Once he extracted his digits from the pelvic he wheeled over a ultrasound machine. As he was getting things ready she finally asked the one question that was on her mind.

"Do you know why I'm here?" He looked at her for a moment like he was studying her.

"For a check up on your pregnancy."

"I mean," she started talking softly. "Do you know I'm not here of my own will?" There was a sad look in his eyes that told her yes he did indeed known.

"Do you know," he said just as softly. "Neither am I." She felt a pang of sympathy thinking back to the little girl and the family who had been pulled into this to trap her.

"I'm sorry," she said feeling guilty now. All of this was to obtain her child, how many people had to get hurt? Now she really couldn't find it in herself to attack him.

"Don't be, you're not the one who put us both down here." He tried to give a brave smile and she returned one in kind. She then sat back and pulled up her gown and wrapped the sheet around her lower half as he spread gel across her stomach. He put the wand across her abdomen and she noticed she seemed a little pudgier than before. Immediately she heard the swishing noises of her gut as he moved it around a little bit before there was a rapid sound like galloping horses and she looked over to see a small blurb on the black and white screen.

"Strong heart beat, approximately 3 inches long, after pelvic exam I would place you at around 13 weeks." Even as he spoke and she heard every word he said her eyes were glued to the monitor. That little bundle of cells was her baby. The little heartbeat beating so furiously that even though she had heard it before at the hospital when helping other patients threatened to make her start crying again.

"So you think he's healthy?"

"Well I have to go over the samples but as of right now I see no problems or complications." 'Thank god for small favors,' she thought to herself. The doctor turned around to finish some notes while she went back to the curtain and changed. 'I'm only just in my 2nd trimester and I will start gaining weight. I need to come up with a plan fast before I'm not physically able to escape.' Thinking about the other intel she needed to gather she decided that it was unlikely her captor would tell her where they were located but the doctor had to be local so she might be able to get something from him.

She studied him from behind the curtain as she redressed. 'No specific accent I can place. No overly distinguishing features. What else could help figure out where a person was from?' Just as she was debating her stomach let out a loud growl and she blushed in embarrassment.

"Seems like the exam took a little longer than you would have liked."

"Ah maybe, I think it might be my cravings starting up."

"I know you probably don't need me telling you think but you need to make sure you don't just eat more food, but specifically healthy food."

"I know I am a doctor." This seemed to surprise him as his eyebrows shot up. "They didn't tell you?"

"No but they don't tell me anything unless it's important for me to know." She sighed a bit understanding what he was telling her, even if he wanted to give her info he had none to give. As bad as the situation was it was nice to know she had a sort of ally if only because they were in the same situation. "I have some extra lunch if you would like," he asked pulling out a container and pulling the lid off. The smell made her stomach growl even louder and blushing she accepted the food. It was a thick goulash type stew and the flavors were slightly on the spicy side. 'It reminds me of something...what is it?'

"Like it," he asked seeing the way she was inhaling it.

"I love it, it really hits the spot. It's a bit spicy but I think I've had it like this once before."

"Ah maybe, I know ninja seem to travel all over. This is a popular recipe from my hometown." Sakura paused for just a moment while eating and then smiled and nodded in acknowledgment before she continued eating. 'I have eaten this before, now if I can only think of where. It was after the war, it was cold out, I remember because the spiciness seemed to warm me up. It wasn't snow country but I was surprised because there was so much snow. It was that much harder to climb because we were in stone!' She hoped her face gave nothing away as she finally deduced her possible whereabouts. 'So I'm in stone somewhere probably. I guess they would know the terrain and better areas to hide here.'

She handed him back the empty container thanking him as her guard came to escort her to her new room. She once again tried to pay attention to where he was taking her but with nothing but dirt walls everywhere she could see she couldn't seem to keep track of where she was within the tunnels.

He opened a new doorway of dirt and lead her into a slightly larger room then before. There was a small dresser on the left, a bed on the right with a chest at the end, possibly with blankets. Straight ahead was a door left ajar from which she could see the bathroom.

"There are extra blankets in the chest, some basic clothes in the dresser, and soaps and towels in the bathroom. We will continue to bring you meals three times a day and snacks in between if you ask. If you would like some reading material we can try to accommodate you." 'How about escaping for dummies?' She bit back the retort knowing it wouldn't help her. At this point while a prisoner they were being lenient and she needed to keep it that way if there was any hope of escape.

"Thanks. Do you think you could get something on pregnancy?" He nodded and turned to leave.

"Lunch will be brought in an hour," he said as the dirt swallowed him and the hallway leaving her in the dirt room. The first thing she did was inspect the room from top to bottom. The dresser didn't have a mirror to break so she couldn't use the glass as a weapon. The dresser, bed, and chest were all made of wood and heavy and she didn't think throwing furniture at them was going to do anything. The bathroom instead of having a mirror had some kind of reflective sheet or tape on the wall which worked but once again she couldn't use as a weapon. She could possibly take off the pipes in the bathroom to hit someone with them but once again she didn't know how many there were down here. While there were soaps and shampoos nothing that could be mixed together to make an offensive weapon. 'Damn what I wouldn't give for some ajax and some bleach.' All in all it looked like she was stuck.

She lay back on her bed and a moment later a different captor came in. He had green eyes hidden behind dark goggles like his leader and clansmen. He also had black hair tied in a high ponytail that reminded her of Inoichi. He sat the food on the chest at the end of her bed, nodded and then left just as quickly. Not that she thought he would talk. She sighed and sat up to see what looked like Chicken sandwiches, some tomato soup, and some chips. Along with her lunch there was a book. She picked it up looking over the cover and smiled slightly. It was a book on pregnancy, though she figured they had already had it in the lair as they were kidnapping a pregnant woman. 'If nothing else though I really need to brush up on the basics.' While she was a doctor she didn't specialize in OBGYN. She sat it to the side and started eating. Even though she wasn't that hungry yet but didn't know the meal schedule or when dinner would be served.

She was also trying to avoid a headache. Her options were slowly dwindling one by one as she tried to figure out how she could escape. She had little to no chakra so she couldn't rely on that to break out. Her captors all needed her down here desperately and had forsaken their clan and country so she couldn't try to play them against each other. There was damn near nothing useful in her room to help her escape. And the doctor was as much a captive as she, so he couldn't help her without putting himself in danger. He was no ninja and she didn't expect him to put his neck out for her. 'It's only day one, right now you just have to keep as many options open as possible.' She was surprised she finished her lunch completely and so without anything else to do she sat back on the bed to read and clear her head hoping it brought better ideas to light.

Many people would consider Shino very serious and also very dedicated to his career but even more so to his friends. But the comrades standing with him now at the gate, including ANBU group 3 were a bit taken aback at his intense aura. They had all appeared one by one, the last one arriving being Kiba who was immediately sorry he was last (even though he was 15 minutes early). They quickly went over the same facts from yesterday they had discussed with Tsunade before making a plan of action to scout the area once arriving at Gifu.

While professional everyone seemed tense. The travel to Gifu was done in complete silence as they pushed passed normal traveling limits arriving in record time. The normal trip which would have taken them all day had them there by mid afternoon. They split up, the ANBU team going to the last area she was seen and the rest of the team going to the town to ask questions in town. They had asked the local authorities before but now they were speaking with the regular villagers. They met up at the town Inn at nightfall. The group in town had found no solid leads and were hoping the ANBU team had gotten more info then they had. They were all secure in the room away from prying eyes and ears before discussing their findings.

"Unfortunately Hinata's assumption about the Stone ninjas using earth melding techniques seems to be true," said the team captain wearing the monkey mask.

"I am a sensory type," said the young woman in the group wearing a rat mask. "There was chakra lingering within the soil near where Sakura-san was taken. It's old but we could attempt to trace it. From my knowledge on these kinds of jutsu they are not teleportation and can take a lot of chakra so they couldn't have gone too far. Maybe 20 or 30 miles from the area she was taken."

"But that's in a diameter radius and that's not to say it was straight to the camp, they may have went above ground and took off," said the third of the ANBU group fidgeting with his rabbit mask.

"So we're no better off then where we started," Shino lamented trying not to be too annoyed with the ANBU. They couldn't help the situation more then he could.

"Actually even though the traces are faint and residual I can track which direction it was they went. We could fan out in a 90 degree angle from the point and go towards the direction they were sent. It will at least narrow our field down by 3/4ths," said the sensor hoping to lighten the stifling mood in the room.

"We figured we could do what we did with this town and pair up and spread out. Our ANBU group would try to find chakra traces and your team would check in towns to find any unusual information, we meet at night fall to discuss any findings and communicate with the other groups. Since they couldn't have gotten more then 30 miles from this point we would eventually find their location or their exit point and could go from there," the man in the rabbit mask, obviously the strategist. The captain of the group pulled out a local map of the area and made markings showing the area they would be investigating.

"Sounds like a plan. Rat here is a sensory type and I think would be good with Hinata, take the left most area. Rabbit here would be a good match with Kiba you check the area to the right. Shino and I could pair up and go down the center scouting. I expect if we have to go as far as 30 miles it will take us three days to comb the areas. If you find a good lead or good information use the message scrolls," he said directing the last part to his subordinates. "We rest tonight and head out at dawn." They decided sleeping arrangements for the night and most turned in early. Shino found himself unable to sleep and wandered downstairs on the porch in the cooling night air.

They had a plan of attack and a chance at finding a lead but he couldn't help the lump settling in the bottom of his stomach. Every day they drew one step closer but it was one more day they had Sakura. They still didn't know why they were targeting her, the most obvious reason could be true but it seemed odd they would kidnap her and not try for him. Something was not settling right with him and until they had a lead he probably wouldn't be sleeping well.

The beetles within him stirred restlessly. Even they had grown accustom to her presence and seem to be more irritated then usual now that she had been gone from their presence for so long. 'Sakura please stay strong, I promise I'll find you,' he prayed staring up at the waning crescent moon. He sighed and returned inside , he needed at at least attempt rest or he would be useless tomorrow.

Two days later and the day was half over and Shino was more than irritated. They had set off hopeful and the two other teams checked in with the captain at the end of the night but no leads yet. He knew Kiba and Hinata were trying as hard as him but he grew annoyed at how this group of rogue nin could slip away so easily. He kept his face blank but anyone could tell his annoyance was palatable. He had interviewed a majority of people in the village. Everyone from the police chief to the mayor, to the grocer. There were only a hand full of people left to talk to. He wandered up to the clinic and knocked a few times waiting patiently but no one arrived. He knew it was getting later in the day but he figured the doctor would still be in. He raised his hand to knock again but was interrupted.

"Can I help you?" He turned around to see a middle aged woman, black hairs with a few grey poking through, lines around her warm brown eyes, and in her hands a basket of herbs.

"Are you the healer?"

"Well I'm the temporary healer."

"Temporary?"

"Yes poor dear. His wife and daughter fell seriously ill, enough that they had to go to the shinobi village to seek out a healer to help him. He's been gone a few days now, I'm his nurse and knowledgeable enough to help with anything simple enough," she said confidence radiating from him.

"Isn't it odd though that the doctor could not heal his own wife and child?"

"Odd thing but not eveyone is invincible and I think it was better that he confessed to not knowing how to cure the problem and get treatment for them than to try and heal something he knew nothing of."

"What kind of disease was it?"

"That's the thing, the doctor thought it was poison but it was worse then any natural poisons we have around here, and there would be no reason to intentionally poison a mother and child." Shino's heart was in his throat. 'Poison and missing doctors, this could be it!' It followed the pattern of taking random civilians and using them for their plots. It was probably a man made poison which would be why the doctor couldn't cure it. He quickly thanked her and dashed off following the familiar chakra pattern he'd been near since yesterday. 'Sakura! We're coming! Hang on!'

AN: I feel bad for Shino in this chapter. Poor guy is an emotional wreck at this point but he'd probably be worse off if he knew of Sakura's condition. Thank you again for reading!


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